Dark Moon
by Troid
Summary: The moon fades to a silhouetted hole in the stars. A plot surrounding the mysteriously altered celestial body unfolds...can the true enemy be discovered in time? Part one of the Reverse Moon trilogy. Now heavily rewritten!
1. Prologue: Silhouette

Welcome to _Dark Moon_, one of three stories that comprise what I call the Reverse Moon series, a series starring Darkrai. It has adventure, mysteries, humor, and fighting. It's been my labor of love for years (yikes), and I sincerely hope you take the time to read it and **review!**

The Reverse Moon trilogy is certainly the largest writing project I've ever undertaken, it is currently over 30 chapters in length (broken with roughly ten in each story). However, I started writing this a long time ago, and my initial efforts were...not good. As such, I'm currently rewriting all three stories, essentially at once.

Extra special thanks to Kyuuketsuki Fang for beatreading the chapters of this story for me. Without her, _Dark Moon_ would have drowned in the tar pits of typo demise.

Note that the length of this chapter is no indication of how long the others will be. Enjoy!  


* * *

  
A gentle wind rustled the tress, whispering secrets into the ears of anyone who knew to listen. It spoke of echoes—echoes of the past that were yet to come. It never lingered long, this wind, and left only cryptic silhouettes of the future in its wake.

The garden was old—very old. It spread as far as the eye could see, a grand ecosystem of quiet green. Nowhere to be found were the noises and concerns of civilization. Among the grassy hills and the aged tree trunks and their families of ever-reaching branches, across the still ponds and hushed streams, nothing artificial ever made its mark. Indeed, the lush garden was devoid of living souls—save one.

Darkrai stood atop a high ridge like a sentinel. Nebulous trails rose from his body like smoke, and a line of crimson spikes crested his wide chest, obscuring his face—save for one eye, which was hued solidly in a clear, bright blue dotted with a white pupil. The other was hidden by a third smoke trail, this one pale as starlight, that wisped away from him yet grew substantial atop his head as if it was hair. His arms were crossed, and a sense of strained impatience radiated from him. Darkrai had returned to the garden recently after some time spent in distant lands, searching for something, but his search had been fruitless and now all he could do was wait...

Darkrai hated waiting.

He whirled abruptly as he saw movement in the corner of his eye. Casting his gaze around the forest, after a moment he saw an indistinct silhouette among the trees. "Who are you?" Darkrai called in a tone that made it perfectly clear that his only interest was to have a name to shout preceding _get out._ Cordiality was not Darkrai's strong suit; conversing with others not his favorite pastime. As he took a step closer, the figure melted into the ground and vanished without a trace.

Darkrai was still for a moment, frozen in his movement towards the now-empty patch of ground. Then he titled his head and gazed upwards into the night sky, where a new moon carved a hole in the stars. The Pokémon he had seen was nothing less a dusky mirror image of himself.

* * *

A/N: Look, an ultra-short prologue! Well of _course_ I had to kick things off with Darkrai. He's only the protagonist of the whole series (and I do thank him for that). Ignore FF's numbering system, the **real** Chapter One is up next!


	2. The Reverse Moon

Before time and before space, there was only swirling nothingness. In the moment of birth, from this emptiness tumbled an egg which came to rest in the center of the nothing. Then, from the egg came a brilliant glow of light of every color, and standing amid that dazzling spectrum was the Original One. In an instant, the universe sprang forth from him and reality was born, innumerable cosmic collisions already shaping what would become the planets and stars of outer space. Among all these celestial bodies was one surrounded by a soft blue shimmer as if it were lit from within, a planet streaked with royal green and warm browns and wrapped in soft swaths of cloud.

The Alpha descended to this chosen world and, in time, created several beings from himself. One was given governance of the temporal laws, and one with power over physical space itself, and one that became lord of a mysterious alternate dimension like a dark mirror of reality. More beings, an entire race of fantastical creatures, were created to embody the elements. But before even these deities had come into being, the Original One had created three unique Pokémon, in stature so unlike the titanic High Lords of time and space, and of fire, water, and wind. Yet they possessed powers matched by nothing in the universe save those of the Original One himself.

One of these three was named Mew.

She was a very diminutive Pokémon. Catlike in appearance but upright and with a long, thin tail that naturally hung in a hook shape, Mew did not make the most imposing figure—the fact that her fur was light pink in color didn't help. Despite this, few would dare make themselves her enemy.

Mew was soaring up the side of one of the mountains of the Coronet chain, invisible to the eyes of the hiking humans. Though she bore news of some severity, she couldn't help the thrill she felt as she shot through the sky. Even after so many years, years dating back to when she could roam an entire hemisphere of the globe and not see a soul, flying was still a pleasure to her, simple yet such a joy—to drift among clouds, rainbows, and the deep blue of that heavenly dome...

Mew cleared the tip of the very highest peak, suspended for a moment above the whole of the Sinnoh region. Mt. Coronet and all its sister mountains lay spread beneath, the aerial view transforming their unforgiving crags of gray rock into a slate upon which the future was ready to be written. She lost herself in the skies for that instant, allowing her mind to drift beyond time and space. Then she descended to the mountaintop, which was covered with the remains of great stone columns and arches that no longer supported any ceiling—this was Spear Pillar.

Mew floated among the ruins until she found a certain symbol etched into the ground, and hovered over it. At the flicker of Mew's will, an Azure Flute appeared before her. It was blue as the sky itself and covered with several holes that could be used to manipulate the notes it would produce. Mew brought the Flute to her lips and began to play an eerie melody that reverberated off nothing, filling the air with echoes of an ancient age.

As Mew continued the song, what at first appeared as a shimmer in the air began to form itself into a luminous white staircase. Its glow softly lit Mew's intelligent crystal-blue eyes as she lowered the Flute, the instrument vanishing instantly as she did so. She began to ascend the glowing steps. The staircase seemed to fade further along, appearing to be cut off in midair.

But as Mew moved upward, her surroundings started to change. The vista of Sinnoh and the tips of the few highest pillars were replaced by walls that shared the illumination of the stairs. They resembled white marble but for their warmer hue, though they shimmered like no earthly material. Mew reached the top of the stairway and entered a spacious chamber that could have been Spear Pillar in its prime. No columns dotted its floor, but titanic arches ran up its sides, curving far overhead and supporting the sloped stone ceiling. This room removed from time and space was known as the Hall of Origin.

At the far end of the chamber, Mew could see a strong glow of colorless light beyond which nothing was visible. Mew stopped midway there, bowing her head, and as soon as she had done so a booming voice filled the Hall. _No need, Lord Mew. Please, approach._

The sound had come from nowhere, but Mew wasn't alarmed. She floated forward and the light seemed to pulsate brightly in every color then fade, and soon she could see ahead. The Pokémon standing before her had a coat of short, snow-white fur that was held sleekly to his body save for the occasional spiky tuft. His underbelly was gray, as were the markings across his face; his four legs tapered to graceful points, and an intricate golden ring surrounded his midsection. He had eyes of striking green dotted with dark red pupils, but he had no other features save a thin, barely visible line where his mouth would open if he ever had use for it.

"Hello, Lord Mew," said Arceus with a kind smile. "How nice to see you."

"Master Arceus," said Mew, dipping her head again. "I'm honored to—"

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Arceus interrupted her smoothly. "Please, no formalities. How have you been?" His voice was warm and at a comforting medium bass. There was power behind it—such power, Mew knew, that nothing in existence even approached it—but it was not intimidating. Rather, it inspired a certain confidence and sense of well-being in those whose ears it fell upon.

"Well, thank you," replied Mew, grinning in spite of herself. It never ceased to amaze her how comfortable Arceus was talking to anyone at all as a equal. He had never even required that he be called 'Master,' though he himself would never omit the titles of others. "But, unfortunately, I have some troubling news..."

Arceus nodded, indicating she should continue, and Mew began. "Recently, a strange energy has fallen upon the planet. It's having distorting effects on the various elemental forces, and natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent. It wasn't long ago that Lords Dialga and Palkia met and battled, as you know; somehow they escaped the barriers of the Unown."

Mew paused as Arceus closed his eyes briefly. Upon reopening them, he said, "I do sense faint stirrings... Have you determined the source of this mysterious energy?"

"Yes," affirmed Mew with a nod. "The moon. Somehow it's become saturated with the energy and is constantly bathing the planet in waves of it. In fact, the moon's own orbit and rotation are affected—it's remained in the 'new moon' phase for some time now. We noticed that phenomenon soon after it appeared—Lord Celebi and I—but this energy is a new development."

"This is indeed odd," mused Arceus. "A reverse moon..." He trailed off, apparently lost in thought for a moment. "...I believe we should watch this situation very closely. Will you investigate this?"

"Absolutely." Mew half-shrugged. "I as planning on doing so anyway—I doubt this is something insignificant." Then she sighed. "Why does it seem like every time we resolve one crisis, another one is waiting to take its place?"

"So it is for those of us with power..." Arceus appeared to concentrate for a moment. "In the west of Sinnoh I can hear something; an echo. Some small part of this energy seems to be concentrated in that area. Perhaps you could start there." Arceus turned his gaze upward as if he could see beyond the secluded reality of the Hall, through time and space, and to the Reverse Moon itself.

* * *

A/N: This is a short chapter as far as I'm concerned, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Chapter Two needs only a few finishing touches, so I promise I'll be uploading it soon.

A word on Arceus - This entire series was completed before Arceus and the Jewel of Life was released anywhere, so Arceus is entirely of my own imagination. The movie version is totally lame anyway.

Are you prepared to review yet? Because, you know, you're absolutely going to have to at some point.


	3. Duel

Darkrai pulled to a halt in midair. He had been flying for some time, following the shadow that was all that remained of the mysterious visitor to his garden as it sped along the ground, and he realized he'd left Sinnoh entirely—the area below him was entirely unfamiliar. He was hovering over the foothills of a large mountain bordered on the east by a sparkling river that separated it from a moderately sized human city. To its west and south was an expanse of amicable grassy plains.

"What game are you playing?" Darkrai muttered. He watched as the shadow rose up, becoming a substantial figure once more, its details obscured by distance. It seemed to pause for a moment, and then it was gone, cloaked by the blackness of the mountain's shadow. Darkrai descended, his sharp gaze picking out an entrance to the mountain's caverns. He reached it, and disappeared inside.

-m- -m- -m-

Mew sped through the clouds, intent on reaching the west coast before nightfall. The landscape below blurred with the speed, becoming parallel smears of chroma like paint on a canvas—green, brown, blue. She couldn't resist flying in a graceful loop-the-loop before continuing toward the city of Canalave.

-m- -m- -m-

Darkrai whipped around corners, weaved among stalagmites, and passed a human who was fretting endlessly about whether to choose the Helix Fossil or the Dome Fossil without slowing a fraction. Only the tail end of his quarry was in sight, always one step ahead around the next bend in the endless tunnels of Mt. Moon, and he couldn't afford to fall behind. _Why are you running?_ The sides of the tunnel blurred. Left, right, right again, rushing ever deeper into the belly of the mountain. Darkrai was on the verge of calling out a name when an invisible force seized hold of him and yanked him sideways and into the unforgiving rock wall.

As Darkrai disengaged himself from the stones he'd impacted, his brain slowly readapted itself to being at rest, the speedlines fading from his brain. As his vision cleared, he beheld a purple, humanoid Pokémon standing in front of him. The being carried a long tail and vaguely catlike features, but had a corded, gangly look that was hard to place, with three fingers on each hand that ended in knobs of flesh. His violet eyes had a wholly serious, disciplined look.

"Did you do that?" growled Darkrai, straightening.

"You are trespassing," said the Pokémon by way of an answer. "I am Mewtwo, and Cerulean Cave is my domain."

"That's wonderful." Darkrai's hands sparked black. "I'll make you pay for that."

"I think not." Mewtwo's voice was cold. "You shall—"

Darkrai rushed at Mewtwo like a steam train, colliding with the other Pokémon shoulder first and forcing him backwards until they collided with the cave wall. Mewtwo shoved Darkrai away and fired a crackling orb of violet energy from his palm which Darkrai batted away, lunging at Mewtwo as the projectile burst against the stone and catching him in the cranium with his long arm. Darkrai closed in on his reeling foe and sank his fist into the purple Pokémon's midsection. Mewtwo grunted and doubled over but a second later unbent and swung at Darkrai's head in a sweeping motion, forcing Darkrai to duck his head behind his red crest of spikes to avoid the strike, and the two combatants separated.

The respite was brief. Darkrai sped forward, moving so fast his outline blurred, and began to jab at Mewtwo. Mewtwo jerked quickly to the side, avoiding the blows as Darkrai accelerated and struck with greater and greater ferocity—until, finally, Mewtwo was unable to evade. A strike caught him in the jaw and he stumbled, and Darkrai closed his hand and around Mewtwo's throat before he could recover. With a roar, he hurled Mewtwo and the opposite wall of the cave. As Mewtwo crashed into the stone, Darkrai summoned his energies, and, shouting "Dark Pulse!" sent a beam of searing black light from his palms. The energy slammed into Mewtwo and, with the sound of an explosion, erupted into a mass of pure power, sending fragments of stone and dust flying as if caught in a storm.

Darkrai turned to leave, but stopped as a boulder outlined in an ethereal blue glow sailed past his head and shattered loudly against the tunnel wall. Turning back, he saw Mewtwo standing among the thinning cloud of debris, surrounded by a translucent purple orb of light. The force field had insulated Mewtwo against the dark energy.

Darkrai laughed. "Planning on hiding in a bubble for the whole fight, coward?"

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, and he thrust a hand forward. Darkrai crossed his arms in an _X_ before his chest in anticipation of an attack, but none was forthcoming; instead, the same blue glow that the boulder had borne slowly spread across his frame as Mewtwo's psychic power held him in place. He found he could not could not move from the spot or use his limbs. Mewtwo's barrier flickered out of existence, and he approached the trapped Darkrai. "It looks like it's you who is going to pay, not I."

"Oh, sure," snapped Darkrai even as Mewtwo drew near. "You act tough now that I can't move. You don't scare me, you—" Darkrai's words turned into a strangled grunt of shock as Mewtwo's hand, glowing brilliantly white, sank into his chest without leaving a mark.

"Soul Breaker," said Mewtwo, and Darkrai could feel his heart constrict as his chest seemed to grow tighter. "You're finished."

"You're touching...my..._soul?_" Darkrai forced out. "_You're_ finished."

An expression of horror crossed Mewtwo's face as black tendrils began to wrap themselves around his arm, spreading from the point where his hand had entered Darkrai's body. Almost liquid but solid also, the inky coils slid over Mewtwo's skin, reaching up to his shoulder as he struggled to pull his arm free from within Darkrai. Finally, he succeeded, stumbling and tripping over backwards as the trails of black receded and vanished from sight.

Slowly, Darkrai began to move his arms outward. Mewtwo regained his balance and fought to keep Darkrai under his control, but Darkrai multiplied his efforts until, at last, he broke free of his invisible bonds with a sharp crack. Mewtwo recoiled as the psychic connection was shattered.

They faced off. Mewtwo held his arms out, saying "Psycho Cut." From his forearms extended twin glows of irised light shaped like the blades of a scythe, curving out past his elbows to deadly points. Darkrai grinned, and they leapt at each other. Mewtwo sliced his insubstantial weapons directly at Darkrai's head, and Darkrai was forced to move quickly to keep his skull attached to his neck. They struggled back and forth, Darkrai fencing using his claws and the ridges on his arms, until their lunges locked and momentum forced them together. It was a direct contest of strength, and neither was willing to yield. For a brief eternity, they stood frozen but for the shudders of one forcing centimeters of ground on the other.

Then, Darkrai set his leg behind Mewtwo's and shoved with his free hand.

Mewtwo helplessly toppled backward, and Darkrai put a hand to his chest and drove him to the ground. "Got you," said Darkrai with a leer. "Black Driver!" A ball of solid darkness formed above his raised palm. "And...good night." He thrust the ball down and into his fallen opponent.

The ensuing blast slung Mewtwo clear across the cave. He flipped uncontrollably across the rock floor, bounced up and impacted the cave's side, and crashed heavily to the ground, already unconscious. Darkrai straightened, looking in the direction he had been chasing the mirror image of himself, though he knew it was in vain. _Long gone by now._ He looked in another direction. Then another. And another. _Now, how the hell do I get out of here?_

* * *

A/N: "Irised" means rainbow-colored. This is one of my favorite words ever.

Because everybody loves fight scenes, right? Oh Mewtwo, you're so solitary and inhospitable. Don't you know better than to pick a fight with the main character? So, the story is now actually underway. There's much more to come, so I hope you stick with me!


	4. You Are Alone

Far away, across a vast sea in the land Hoenn, Deoxys had been meditating—monitoring the energies of the world as they ebbed and flowed, sensing the unique signature of every living being, each as a tiny pinprick of light against the great dark fabric of the elements. Recently he had felt a spike in the region of Kanto, identifying two combatants of considerable strength, though it was impossible to be sure exactly how strong either was given the vast distance separating them from Deoxys. He now made his way west, soaring over the stone plateaus of Hoenn's outer-desert region.

Deoxys was a Pokémon of roughly humanoid shape and proportions, though his silhouette was comprised of sharper lines and more angles than a human's rounder outline—he also had no feet to speak of—and only occasionally did his two pairs of tentacles twist and reshape themselves into arms and hands. He was orange-red in color but for his face, which was hued a grayish blue. A brilliant gem of deep purple was inset in his chest, and the same color was in the markings that dotted his back as well as on a vertical slash that ran down the center of his face and would have been perpendicular to his mouth if he had had one. Currently, Deoxys was in his Normal form, one of four shapes among which he could shift at will to access different, specialized abilities, and all of which looked different—his Attack form featured impressive spiky extensions to his head and legs, Defense was rounder and more solidly built, and Speed was built like an aerodynamic sail with limbs.

He was flying over an empty expanse of rocky plains when his levitation abruptly failed. Barely had the thought formed in his head, _What—_ before he was plummeting to earth. As the unforgiving ground rushed to meet him, Deoxys shifted to Defense form, crossed his arms, and braced for impact.

There was none. The ground wasn't unforgiving, if there was even any present. Deoxys plunged through the terrain as if it wasn't there, and the darkness the swallowed him whole.

-m- -m- -m-

Deoxys sat up slowly and groaned; his brain felt like it had been doing corkscrews inside his head. _I was falling...and then what?_ He looked up and around him, but could see nothing in the pitch darkness.

A voice hissed from the shadows, its source impossible to place. "Does your head ache?" A cackle of laughter followed the sneer.

Another speaker, "Look at him, he's too dizzy to stand!"

"A great Legendary, shaken after a little fall!"

"He looks so confused..." The voices were coming from all directions.

"What, can't you see us?"

Suddenly, a fuzzy purple light illuminated Deoxys's surroundings, and he saw that he stood in a large, roughly circular cavern with tiered rings rising up its sides—each was greater in diameter than the one below it. Around each ring sat dozens of ghostly Pokémon composed of ephemeral purple smoke swirled around a core of like-colored light, upon which eyes and jack-o'-lantern mouths were etched in neon green. Green orbs of an uncertain material dotted the spirals, orbiting slowly around the center. "You've stumbled into our circle!" shrieked one of them—the Spiritomb. "Our domain extends all the way to the sky!" The group of Spiritomb began to sway and drift lazily to the side, floating in circles around Deoxys.

Deoxys turned with them, keeping his eye on the Spiritomb that had spoken. "What do you want?"

"We want..." The Pokémon's insubstantial grin stretched into a horrible leer than was literally too big for its face. "We want _you __dead._"

"What a surprise," muttered Deoxys, knowing better than to ask why. "Look, I've got more important things to do than fight with you and your overly excitable friends." He gave an exaggerated shrug. "So, why don't you just leave me alone, and I'll be on my way."

The rings of Spiritomb accelerated, moving so fast their outlines melted into streaks of purple lined with green. "Oh, but you are alone!" And in a split-second they all vanished.

Decoys rolled his eyes. _I can't waste time fighting them; I don't care if they want to kill me..._ He summoned a sparking mass of energy between his tentacles and launched it upward, but it did not hit any ceiling and continued rushing straight up until it the light was dimmed to nonexistence. Deoxys frowned mouthlessly. _We can't be that far down._

He whirled quickly around and deflected the large rock that had come flying from nowhere, setting a Defense force field between him and the stone, but no sooner had it struck his barrier of light than a whole salvo of boulders shot at Deoxys from all sides. He swung his thick Defense form tentacles in a series of quick of lashes, smashing the rocky missiles to pieces.

Spiritomb began to blink in and out of visibility all around like a parade of flickering candles, firing bursts of energy at Deoxys. He blocked them easily and returned the favor with his Attack form, but the wily Spiritomb dodged his offensives and retreated among the shadows. Yet more projectiles flew at Deoxys, energy and stone both, and he grew more frustrated with each he was forced to stop. He had no desire to kill the other Pokémon, but enough of his time had already been taken up by the engagement. _I'll try to get them to give away their positions, but if that doesn't work..._

"You can't kill a Legendary Pokémon with such puny attacks!" he called to the cavern at large, as pompously as he could. "Come out and face me, you pathetic swirls of purple mist!'

A single derisive, crazy giggle was barely audible, and Deoxys shot a fast energy wave at the sound. A Spiritomb dropped from its perch, out cold, becoming visible as it did so. "Well?" demanded Deoxys, still in his loud, arrogant voice. "Is that all? You claimed you were going to kill me! And yet you're hiding like cowards, attacking from behind and while cloaked by the dark! You'll never defeat me this way!"

This time none of the Spiritomb made the slightest sound, and instead a host of additional energy balls and slabs of rock were launched his way. He batted them away without difficulty as before. _That leader one's probably keeping them in check._ He would have gritted his teeth if he'd had teeth. _Well... Plan B._ Spreading his arms wide, he yelled "Psycho Boost!"

With a sound akin to a scream, a crackling pulse of devastating power expanded from the gem in Deoxys's chest, spreading until it filled every corner of the cave and surging upward with a howl. As the deadly light reached them, the Spiritomb pitched forward and dropped like stones—unconscious or dead, it was impossible to tell. Every last one collapsed to the cave's very bottom, joining the first. When the flare subsided, flickering slowly then gradually fading to nothing, only the Spiritomb whom Deoxys had conversed with remained.

"Which poor sap did you use as a shield?" Deoxys gave a mouthless smile. "I've been delayed long enough. How about I leave without you interfering?" The Spiritomb breathed a stream of ghostly blue flames at him in place of an answer. Deoxys dodged the conflagration and whacked the Spiritomb with a tentacle as it tried to rush at him, knocking it back.

The Spiritomb recovered and drew back. Its core began to glow as it charged power within itself. "Cursed—"

In a split second, Deoxys rocketed across the cave and tackled the Ghost Pokémon in Speed form, slamming it into the pit's side at lightning speed. "Should have let me leave," he said, and hit the Spiritomb point-blank with an Attack form blast that sent it smashing through fifty meters of solid rock.

Deoxys thrust a tentacle at the now-visible ceiling of the grotto, blowing a hole in the dark stone. With his levitation restored, he rose through the gap and shot into the distance towards Kanto.

* * *

A/N: This was a quirky chapter to write, but I'm happy with where it ended up. Weeeelp, we've got another one of our heroes/protagonists/whatever introduced, and we're on our way down into the depths of the plot...next chapter, that is. Review if you please and I promise I'll update soon.


	5. Nightmares

Night arrived just as Mew did; gently settling upon the small seaside town of Canalave like a blanket of darkness. Stars twinkled benignly in a sky clear but for a few smoky gray clouds, but the absence of the moon's light made the night seem colder than it was, and perhaps a little more unfriendly.

Canalave was a secluded city, tucked into a niche in the soft green reaches of Sinnoh's southeastern forest, bordered to the north by calm ocean—though on this night the waves were unusually choppy and the waters dark as ink—from which the town drew most of its resources. Mew knew Canalave had traditions dating back to times long forgotten by most, people and Pokémon alike; some of the legends concerned even the early time of creation. As she descended into the town, all but invisible, Mew could feel the weight of history in the air, and for a moment she was lost in reminiscences of years long past…

Abruptly a much colder and much sinister feeling intruded on the sense of time, and she was instantly alert. She turned on the spot and surveyed the area, a barely perceptible shimmer playing through the air as she moved, but she could see nothing threatening. Still, there was no mistaking the menace of the atmosphere, and Mew knew that something was amiss in the city. _It is night, but it hasn't been dark long…why aren't there any lights on?_ "An 'echo of power,' huh?" she mused aloud.

_Rustle, rustle._

Mew whirled as the sound reached her ears, accompanied by a disturbance in the nearby foliage that thickened southward and eventually spread as it melded with the trees of the forest. She waited a moment, but only stillness made its presence known. "Who's there?" she finally called out, returning to visibility. "Show yourself."

A small, blue Pokémon stepped hesitantly out from behind a clump of bushes. It was vaguely canine, though upright. Mew recognized it as a Riolu—and a little one at that.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Mew said kindly.

"Knew you were there anyway," muttered the Riolu in a slightly hurt tone of voice. "Felt your aura."

Mew nodded. "I'm Mew."

"My name's Riolu," said the smaller Pokémon, eyes still determined to look anywhere but at her.

"Riolu, I don't see any humans around. Are they all in their homes? Why?"

Riolu mumbled something inaudible, but was spared the conversation he clearly would rather have avoided as another figure strode from among the trees. This Pokémon resembled Riolu, but was larger—a Lucario. The Aura Pokémon strode silently to them and looked down at Riolu. "Go back home." When Riolu opened his mouth to protest in an undoubtedly petulant manner, he said firmly, "_Now._"

Grumbling under his breath, the Riolu turned and disappeared into the woods, and Lucario turned to face Mew. "I am Lucario," he stated. "Why did you come here?"

"The moon," replied Mew, summarizing quite a bit. "It's begun to emanate a strange energy that's having odd effects on the balance of elements, among other things."

Lucario looked to the sky, towards the darkened circle of the new moon. "Yes, I've been sensing it for some time… It's unlike anything I've encountered before." He returned his attention to the terrestrial. "Are you aware of what's happened here?"

"Not exactly," Mew looked intently at the other Pokémon. "What _has_ happened?"

"You feel it, don't you?" The Lucario gestured as if to include the trees, the air, everything. "A pall of stilled darkness has fallen upon us."

"A little more specifically, please," said Mew, growing slightly frustrated at the slowness with which she was receiving information. "What _happened;_ where are the humans?"

In answer, perhaps sensing her impatience, Lucario pointed to the darkened window of the nearest human dwelling. "You can see for yourself." After a moment's pause, Mew floated to the glass portal located on the second floor of the modest, wooden house. Her gaze was met at first by the folds of heavy curtains, but at a turn of her thoughts they slid aside untouched. Peering into the dark room beyond, Mew could see a man lying in a solitary bed—but he was not sleeping peacefully. He tossed to side to side and his limbs shook; his mouth was opening and closing subtly, and Mew almost thought she could hear what must have been his terrified mumblings even through the glass pane. It wouldn't have been apparent at all that the human was asleep save for his shuttered irises.

The worming feeling of abnormality Mew had been aware of since arriving in Canalave intensified as she watched the continuing throes of the man's nightmare, and she knew she would find the same thing if she looked into any of the other houses. She turned back to Lucario, floating again to ground level. "The moon caused all this?"

"No," he replied, surprising her. "At least, not directly. The nightmares began when a certain individual took up residence on the nearby New Moon Island."

"Who?" Mew already had what she considered a pretty good idea who.

Lucario turned to gaze northward. "This city carries the curse of Darkrai."

-m- -m- -m-

"Damn this entire mountain," growled Darkrai as he looked back at Mt. Moon, from which he had only recently managed to extricate himself. The hours it had taken for him to escape from the mazelike tunnels that spiderwebbed endlessly under the mountain ensured Darkrai was in a foul mood when he finally returned to daylight, and he was not in the slightest feeling disinclined to damn any offending topographical features.

His current surroundings weren't much more inspiring than Mt. Moon's caverns. Alternately grassy and dusty plains spread to the southward horizon, and to the east was the riverside human city he had seen before entering the mountain—and nowhere could he see so much as a hint of where his quarry might have gone. _This doesn't make sense. Why lead me out here and disappear?_ The name Darkrai had been prepared to shout before Mewtwo's unwelcome interruption lingered in his thoughts as he surveyed the plains. _And where am I, anyway?_

One thing was certain: Darkrai was not north of Canalave City.

-m- -m- -m-

Deoxys slowed, the blurred streaks around him reforming into recognizable landscape. He had arrived in Kanto a short time ago, and, having since caught hold mentally of the unique energy signature of one of the combatants he had initially detected, he had begun homing in on it. Now, he could see a dot on the horizon; the silhouette of his target grew larger as he sped closer and closer…

Deoxys halted entirely, his momentum carrying him past Darkrai before he stopped and his change to Normal form was completed. Darkrai turned as he passed by, looking fully unsurprised to have a stranger rocket past him after seemingly appearing from nowhere. He took in the other's appearance, and then growled—predictably, perhaps—"Who're you?"

"Nice greeting." Deoxys gave the impression of a raised eyebrow despite his utter lack of eyebrows. "My name is Deoxys. I'm—"

"I didn't ask what your name is. I don't care what your name is. And never mind who you are," Darkrai interrupted. "You're going to kill me for trespassing, or maybe you're here—"

Deoxys cut Darkrai off, returning the favor. "Give it a rest. I'm not planning on killing you. What do you think you're trespassing on, anyway?"

"Then what are you here for?"

"You're Darkrai, right? You could really stand to show a little more courtesy." Deoxys moved closer to Darkrai from where he'd drifted. "I monitor the Legendary Pokémon of this world—where they are, how they're using their powers. I know you fought with Mewtwo…why?"

"I was _trespassing,_" said Darkrai. "I was cha—passing through his cave and the weakling attacked me."

"That's it?" Deoxys was obviously suspicious.

"That's it," replied Darkrai drily.

Deoxys shrugged. "Well, I'll see what Mewtwo has to say."

"He'll _say_ he'll rip out your soul if you don't leave him alone to sit in his little cave."

"I'm not that worried about him attacking me. I can…defend myself."

"Can you now? You must be a Legendary, but I've never heard of you."

"Good," responded Deoxys, letting Darkrai's dismissive tone bounce right off. "A lot of the Legendaries wouldn't be too happy to find out someone kept even a mental eye on them."

"A lot of them? How many do you keep track of?"

"All of them. Actually, I can sense any Pokémon or even human."

Darkrai regarded him. "Are there any near here?"

Deoxys closed his eyes for the briefest moment, saying upon reopening them, "Nope, just us." His eyes somehow frowned without moving. "Although, my senses have been off lately; it seems like a lot of what I'm feeling from the elemental Legendaries is muted, and then there's the moon…"

"Great." Darkrai had clearly lost interest, and didn't hear much of what Deoxys said, lost again in thoughts of the shade he'd been pursuing.

"So…" It was Deoxys's turn to watch Darkrai. "What are you doing here? I thought you lived in Sinnoh."

"I got lost." Darkrai looked up. "Why are you still here?"

Deoxys shook his head. "You're not used to talking to others, are you? Lost," he echoed. "Right."

"I'm moving here," said Darkrai, swiveling and gesturing at the sunset-soaked landscape, "for the great locale and the interesting people."

The irony-soaked last two words were not lost on Deoxys, but he refrained from retorting. "At least tell me _what_ you do. I know you aren't an elemental."

"Nightmares," said Darkrai, turning back to face Deoxys. "I 'do' nightmares." He shrugged. "Dripping-blood, scream-in-terror, never-ending nightmares. I give them to anyone asleep just by being nearby." Darkrai didn't sound particularly excited; the subject clearly interested him no more or no less than any other.

"Why?" Deoxys was nonplussed. "What does that accomplish?"

"Nothing," said Darkrai with a laugh. "You think I'm supposed to have some sort of purpose? Well that's it, that's my _Legendary_ ability—nightmares."

Deoxys shook his head. "That isn't the same as a purpose, though."

"Good luck finding mine, then," scoffed Darkrai. "What about you—'monitoring Legendaries,' right? You have yours. Go be noble with it somewhere."

Deoxys rolled his eyes, floating away. "You'll be seeing me again if I find out you didn't tell me all of what happened with Mewtwo." He shifted to Speed form, but then turned back. "…Is there something you get out of people's dreams or nightmares?"

"Nope." Darkrai grinned, suspiciously nastily given what he said next. "The last thing I got from a human's dream was that shorts are comfy and easy to wear."

-m- -m- -m-

Mew flew north now, towards New Moon Island. The gray sea beneath her rolled endlessly as if great hands had seized its edges and were pulling it up and down, creating the waves that moved across its surface and tumbled over one another and crashed together and sent tiny droplets of water black as pitch in the moonless night spraying up to lick at Mew's fur as she sped over them. The waters did not seem to object to her presence, but there was an overall unease to their movements, and Mew wondered exactly what awaited her on the isle as she drew near to her shadowed destination, the stars impartially looking on.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I really appreciate it; reviews can definiely help me improve as a writer, and in turn do well enough to keep on entertaining you guys!

**vulpes opaca** - This fic doesn't take place specifically in the world of the Pokémon games or anime, and I'm not going to pay much attention to things like type effectiveness. Thanks for pointing it out, though.

So, we're on our way into the murky realms of depressing plot darkness...not! The next chapter introduces a certain someone who's probably the character I have the most fun writing, and I think you'll have fun reading. I'll update as soon as I can defrost my fingers...


	6. The Infinite&Undisputable Power of Rotom

Following Deoxys's departure, Darkrai had descended and was now floating aimlessly among the jagged boulders haphazardly dotting one of the innumerable plains. He felt…directionless.

_Not to mention literally lost_, he thought with a grimace.

When he had returned to the garden, he'd been resolved to wait—wait for whatever unknown _who_ or _what_ he had been looking for to find him—but now that he was out in the world again… Darkrai vented his frustration by slamming his fist into the ground.

The ground, not unreasonably, yelled.

Darkrai paused. Ground didn't yell…

Before his eyes, the rocky soil shifted and split as a bulky form rose to stand on two legs. It seemed to be made of rock itself, with crags forming arms, legs thick as tree trunks, and a neckless head atop a frighteningly broad torso. Noting the deadly horn that was pointed accusingly in his direction, Darkrai realized he had punched a Rhyperior. As he realized this, he saw a boulder in the corner of his vision that appeared to have sprouted limbs—it was, of course, another of the Rock-type Pokémon. Muttering curse words, Darkrai backed slowly away as more and more Rhyperior revealed themselves, at each count of one adding another curse.

_Thirty-five…thirty-six…_ Darkrai backed away less slowly.

_Forty-one_.

Darkrai about-faced and soared up and into the sky, where he was utterly out of reach. Or tried to. He in fact found his path blocked by the forty-second Rhyperior, who grinned toothily and extended a bulky arm in his direction.

-m- -m- -m-

…_In the shadow of one of the largest boulders, a silently hovering figure watched as Darkrai entered a no-holds-barred brawl with the pack of Rhyperior. "So, he's come…"_

-m- -m- -m-

Darkrai pummeled the two remaining Rhyperior into the dirt and withdrew from the immediate area (which was now strewn with so many unconscious Rhyperior as to be unsafe for travel), again swearing under his breath. Or over it.

"What the hell is wrong with everyone on this damned continent? I'm trespassing in someone's cave, or I accidentally hit someone whose _entire body is armor!_ I defend myself one time and an alien shows up to interrogate me about it! All paling in comparison to the fact that I was led here by, of all people—"

The dramatic conclusion to Darkrai's batch of complaints was interrupted by a voice that issued from behind him. "Very good," a mysterious someone said. "Verrry good…" Dakrai whirled around, expecting again to find another imposing, possibly all-powerful, and certainly enraged Pokémon planning to attack him for an intrusion upon territory or some other miscellaneous offense.

Sadly, he didn't. Instead, Darkrai found himself face-to-face with what appeared to be an orange teardrop with large blue eyes. It had a slight line of a mouth turned upwards in a cheery smile, and its eyes positively radiated bubbliness. Two glowing lines like miniature cartoon lightning bolts—arms, apparently—were the teardrop's only distinct features.

"Who're you?" growled Darkrai for the second time that day.

"Rotom," the floating Pokémon answering brightly, "of course! Don't pretend like you don't know!"

"I've never heard of you," said Darkrai dismissively, and for the second time that day.

Rotom's face fell comically. "But Rotom is a Legendary!"

"No, you're not," said Darkrai automatically.

"Shows what you know," Rotom retorted, clearly miffed. "All fall before the infinite and undisputable power of Rotom!"

"_I'm_ a Legendary," said Darkrai, annoyed, "and you definitely are not. And I seriously doubt you have infinite and _in_disputable power."

Rotom glared, an action that made him look absolutely no more threatening. "You shouldn't make fun of Rotom."

Darkrai closed his eyes. "Stop talking in third person."

Rotom only blinked. "What?"

"You're saying your name instead of 'me!'"

"Huh?"

"Just die!" Darkrai yelled as he lunged at Rotom. He caught the smaller Pokémon in one claw, his fingers encircling Rotom in a vice-like grip.

"Hey!" yelped Rotom. "Release me! Or else!"

Perhaps the only reason Darkrai didn't snap right then and there was that Rotom had dropped the third person. "Or else what?" His tone indicated he was dangerously close to snapping anyway.

"Or else I'll…do this!" Rotom shouted dramatically, the words accompanied by a sharp crackling sound, as he summoned a pulse of electrical energy and diverted it into Darkrai's body. After a moment passed and he realized that the charge had had zero effect, Rotom quickly changed track. "Um…I mean, that's what I would do if I didn't have information for you!"

"Information?" Darkrai queried, pausing in the act of creating a spear of Dark energy to impale Rotom with.

"Let go of me and I'll give it to you!"

Darkrai sighed, loosening his grip. "What makes you think I want information?"

"Weelll…" said Rotom as he retreated to a slightly safer distance (though the meter-and-a-half or so probably wouldn't have helped much if Rotom had decided to start talking in third person again). "You belong somewhere else, right? Sinnoh!"

Darkrai nodded, and Rotom went on. "Actually, so do I. Y'see, here's what happened to me…"

-m- -m- -m-

_Several days earlier, in the Old Chateau of Sinnoh's Eterna Forest…_

Rotom was lazily floating through the musty walls, humming to himself as he passed in and out of the countless layers of woodwork and insulation that, in truth, weren't fit even for a house inhabited only by ghosts. He'd scared a human earlier by popping out of a television, and was feeling quite good about himself.

Such was his happy mood that it was only after floating through several rooms that Rotom noticed something was amiss: as far as he'd gone through the Chateau, he hadn't seen one other ghost. Usually the decrepit mansion was full of sprits, human and Pokémon alike—Rotom's fellow tenants and friends. But apart from him, the Chateau seemed devoid of life…or afterlife.

"Um, hello?" he called out. "Anyone there?"

A very haunted house-esque echo was the only answer he got. The silence weighed heavily on Rotom as he moved onto a balcony overlooking what was once a grand dining room, its rich red tapestries and carpets long since faded, and saw no one. _Where are they?_ he wondered nervously. Many of the ghosts were bound to Old Chateau and could not leave its walls.

Something caught Rotom's eye, and he turned barely in time to catch a glimpse of a thin, insubstantial streak of white that flashed passed him and disappeared into a wall. Rotom thought for a moment that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but a second later another flash blinked in and out of visibility in the same manner as the first, swallowed up by the wall in a heartbeat. This time Rotom followed the mysterious trail, apprehension gnawing at him as he moved through the woodwork. On the other side, he found a bare room with rickety boards over the window that allowed only a few pale bars of light in. Beyond the feeble illumination, at the center of the room, was a dark shape with features indistinguishable from the rest of the shadows—and now Rotom saw more lines of the white substance, moving as if drawn to the mysterious shape and then vanishing once they reached it.

Rotom didn't make a sound. Moments later, the last of the streaks were gone, absorbed by the silhouette, which then moved toward Rotom and into the half-light. Rotom almost gasped as it was revealed—pitch-black coloration, a ring of spikes red as blood, wisping trails of black and smoky gray.

"Did I miss one?" Darkrai said. "I should have sucked out your soul already…" He thrust a claw in Rotom's direction, and Rotom felt an odd sensation; as if he was being pulled inexorably toward Darkrai, yet was not moving… Then, abruptly, it ended.

"Hmm," the shadowy Pokémon mused. "Your soul isn't all that weak."

After a moment's worth of silence, Darkrai grinned and said more menacingly, "Mute? Or just scared? I think I know who you are…Rotom, isn't it? A 'half-Legendary!'"

"No," muttered Rotom, against the better judgment he didn't have, "I'm a real Legendary."

Darkrai laughed, the sound swelling to fill the room and making Rotom shiver. "I'll show you Legendary!" A pulsating ball of black light swirled into existence before Darkrai. "Dark Continent!"

The next thing Rotom knew, a great rush of sound like wind engulfed him, layered with sharp cracks as he smashed through the ancient timbers of the Old Chateau's roof. A massive, dark torrent of energy was pushing him up and across the sky. It took every bit of Rotom's power, but he managed to conjure a shield and protect himself from total annihilation by the black core of power. The force was still overpowering; he felt it constantly draining his strength, until after what seemed like eternity the beam dissipated and Rotom was left drifting—for how long he didn't know.

Eventually he regained a modicum of vitality and floated down to see where he had ended up…

-m- -m- -m-

_So that's it,_ thought Darkrai as Rotom finished recounting what had befallen him with a dramatic whooshing sound indicating how far he'd been launched. _A genuine clone. It wasn't_—

"But!" piped up Rotom, a little shrilly, interrupting Darkrai's thoughts. "I know it wasn't you. I'm not saying you attacked me or anything." It seemed he was worried Darkrai might take offense if he so much as insinuated anything of the kind.

"Why did the _other me_ attack you?" Darkrai approximated the raising of an eyebrow. "Were you annoying him too?"

Saying this was a mistake, apparently.

"Nothing like that! I was minding my own business, and he's there where I live, and he tried to suck out my soul!" Rotom was indignant. "I like my soul where it is! And he insults me, just like you by the way, and shoots me with a huge laser for no reason! And who talks about sucking out souls, anyway? Everyone _knows_"—he stretched the single syllable into two—"that souls aren't like made of stuff you can see or touch or anything!"

"Everyone is an expert on souls today," muttered Darkrai.

Rotom was still going on. "I mean, even _you_ didn't try and mess with my _soul._ You just—"

"Hey," interrupted Darkrai, "how _did_ you know it wasn't me?"

"Well, I didn't," Rotom sounded as if he considered this a minor strike against him at best since, hey, he knew _now._ "But then I met—oh, hey!" Darkrai turned to face whomever Rotom had greeted over his shoulder, finding…

"Hi, Celebi!" said Rotom brightly.

* * *

A/N: And one last update now that my semester finals are over and I'm home for the break (crazy long train ride; got home too late to do anything but sleep)! Enjoy, **leave a review or I'll kill you,** Merry Christmas if you're celebrating it, and see you in the new year!


	7. Maybe Committed

He wasn't much bigger than Rotom, but an aura of strength radiated from him and it was apparent to Darkrai that his stature belied incredible power—even he, Darkrai, knew who Celebi was. The Pokémon had large eyes inset with shimmering irises of deep blue which occupied most of his disproportionately large head. His upper body and short arms were all the palest of leaf colors and his lower half a darker green, but the spot where his head elongated and curved back was hued an almost turquoise shade. Two thin antennae sprouted from his forehead and sloped over his cranium, and two delicate wings adorned his back. On Celebi's face was what could only be described as a serious smile; his eyes showed depth and understanding and brevity at the same time.

"This is Celebi!" chirped Rotom happily. "He's a really really strong Legendary! He's even as strong as Mew and Jirachi are! They're called the Lieutenants of Arceus, 'cause they're really, _really_ strong!"

Darkrai didn't pay much attention to this. Celebi turned to Rotom. He said, "Thank you, Rotom. You should go." His voice was at a comfortable medium pitch, strong but not without a touch of lightness. "Priority one for you is alerting Lord Deoxys to the situation so he can inform the other Legendaries."

Rotom didn't have a head to nod with, but he give the impression of nodding with a midair bob before vanishing in a cheery flash.

Celebi refocused his attention, along with his rather enormous eyes, on Darkrai. "Hello, Lord Darkrai."

Darkrai glanced side to side and once over his shoulder. "Who's Lord Darkrai? Do you mean me? My name is Darkrai. _Just_ Darkrai."

"Right… How much concerning the moon are you aware of?"

"The moon? Big, white, out in space…"

"I'll take it nothing, then." Celebi smiled. "You're just as disagreeable as I remember."

"And you're just as small and green as I remember."

"What I have to tell you is more important than your sarcasm, though, so you'll have to cut it short."

"I'm not really interested," said Darkrai shortly. "The last time you—"

"Darkrai." Celebi's smile had vanished. "This is serious."

"How serious can it be when an annoying orange lightbulb is your messenger? No," Darkrai growled, "whatever it is. I have my own problems."

"And this is one of them." Celebi's tone was flat. "I'm not here to play games, Darkrai."

Darkrai folded his arms. "Fine. Tell me."

"Thank you." Celebi began. "A few days ago, the moon entered the new lunar phase. Shortly after we discovered—"

"Who's 'we?'" interrupted Darkrai.

"Myself and Lord Mew," Celebi replied, betraying no hint of annoyance. "We discovered something was wrong with its elemental energies. Some force has affected it, we're not sure what, and it's having odd effects. For one thing, the moon's orbit has changed so it's remaining in the new moon phase. I've been referring to it—"

"Oh, you've _named_ it."

"—been referring to it as the 'Reverse Moon.' The problem is how this Reverse Moon is affecting the Earth: Legendaries are having trouble controlling their elements; natural disasters are worsening all over the world. I'm not certain, but all the odd energy seems to be increasing in strength with time."

Celebi paused, indicating Darkrai should comment. "No, I haven't noticed anything wrong with the moon; I haven't been paying attention to it. What am I, Cresselia?" He gestured in the vaguest of directions. "I haven't even been there in years."

Celebi frowned quizzically. "Been where?"

"New Moon Island."

"Actually, that brings me to the next issue…this other Darkrai."

Darkrai almost groaned aloud. "Let me guess, the moon's _reverse_ energy beamed down and spawned a clone of me."

"As good an explanation as I could have given," said Celebi. "Did he come to the garden?"

"Yes."

"And you chased him?"

"That's right."

"He was first seen in Sinnoh," recounted Celebi, when Rotom encountered him in Eterna Forest, where—as you were told—he was absorbing souls. Obviously this is itself unusual; soul-sucking is not exactly a common ability, and not even one you possess. So, why this 'other you' is able to do that remains a mystery… A lesser one than his appearance in the first place, of course.

"At the moment, Lord Mew is investigating a peculiar energy Master Arceus detected in the west of Sinnoh, which could be the other Darkrai. Unfortunately, I met Rotom only after she departed, and she doesn't know about the existence of your doppelgänger. I'm going to Sinnoh now, to tell Mew everything I've learned. You may come if you want…and I'm pretty sure you do."

"Don't be so pretty sure," Darkrai said. "I didn't follow that clone because I wanted to find out about him; I followed him because I thought he—" The Pitch-black Pokémon abruptly cut himself off.

"Darkrai…" Celebi regarded him frankly. "I know you're still looking, but that doesn't mean you have to ignore everything else."

Darkrai stared right back. "Yes, it does."

"Do you have any leads? Places to search? Face facts, a darkened moon and a copy of yourself are the closest things you have to clues."

"You think this is related?"

"All I'm saying is it could be. At least you'll be doing something other than directionless wandering."

Darkrai was silent for a time. His search had indeed been fruitless, and—though he was loath to admit it—Celebi's mention of the overwhelming lack of leads reminded him of his own recent thoughts on the subject. This search had occupied him completely ever since the one he sought had disappeared, but maybe it was time to rest…rest, and wait until he had a direction to begin looking in again.

Needless to say, the decision to accept somebody's advice did not come easily from Darkrai.

"Yeah, fine," he growled.

Celebi nodded. "Once we've met with Mew, we'll go to the Hall of Origin to see Master Arceus and decide what to do next. You've never met him, have you?" Then, off Darkrai's indication of _no_: "Well, it's good that you're going to."

Darkrai posed what was for once a reasonable question. "And what if we run into my evil twin along the way?"

"A peaceful resolution isn't out of the question," responded Celebi. Darkrai gave him the flattest of states, and he said, "Okay, I'm not saying it's likely. But don't attack him before we try to negotiate. Got it?"

Under Celebi's stern frown, Darkrai knew better than to push his luck. He's met Celebi only once before, but from that one meeting he knew what could happen if one offended Celebi's sense of discipline. So he only nodded, and muttered quietly as Celebi turned away, "Maybe."

-m- -m- -m-

In Western Sinnoh, the night only grew blacker as Mew sped toward New Moon Island, the crags of which had just appeared in the distance, looking as if they had violently punched up from the sea floor and through the horizon line. Though the waves had been choppy while Mew was over the open ocean, around the island the sea was all but immobile, and even the air seemed still—still and thick, and close to Mew's body as she touched down atop the sheer cliffs that barricaded the isle's southern side like a great fortress wall. From there, though, she could see that the terrain sloped downward, the solid stone gradually yielding to rocky soil and, further towards the heart of the island, a small and claustrophobic woods. The outermost layer of trees were bare; beyond them were thicker trunks and hardier foliage, but somehow the forest retained its dead feel, appearing for all the world as many bony hands jutting from the dirt, fingers hooked and ready to ensnare an unaware traveler.

Mew was anything but unaware as she made her way through the odd forest—in places it seemed as though the trees grew from a rock base—to the center. As she delved further, drawn by instinct, the darkness grew unnaturally dense, as if the starlight could not penetrate it. At length, she reached a more-sizable gap in the tree trunks and entered the clearing beyond.

A shallow, rocky basin lay at the core of the island, left as light-starved as the rest of the woods by the branches that curved overhead. A thin but perfectly clear and reflective layer of water filled the basin, as still as glass. Reflected in it was a Pokémon of black coloration, with a row of bright red spikes topping his broad chest, three smoky trails softly rippling from his body, two inky and one pale gray. As Mew entered the clearing, one startlingly blue eye came into view, the other hidden by the solid-looking origin point of the gray smoke, which rested atop the Pokémon's head as if it were hair.

Mew stopped a distance away, and the dark mirror of Darkrai spread his arms wide. "Welcome to New Moon Island!"

* * *

A/N: A wild VILLAIN appeared!

Yeah, so, I'm unsure about this chapter. It's kind of talky and short-ish and meh. But what the heck, at least I've got us on our way and we're ready for the meat of the plot and so forth.

I hope it's a tasty kind of plot meat. Like plot steak.


	8. Pitchblack Copy

What's this—two chapters in two days? Very special thanks to Kyuu for making this rare, never-expect-it-to-happen-again update possible.

* * *

The shadowy Pokémon's voice carried more glee than Darkrai's own ever had, though in all other ways it was identical. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from Mew herself?"

"I think you know what, Darkrai." Mew floated the equivalent of a step forward.

Not-Darkrai shrugged. "I'm afraid you'll have to tell me. Wait, is it someone's birthday?"

Mew didn't bother responding to this. "I want to hear your explanation of that"—she pointed at the gap in the stars where under different circumstances one might have seen the moon—"and then I want you to wake up the people of Canalave City from their nightmares."

"My," said the other Darkrai, a hand to his chest as though his breath had caught, "what makes you think I have anything to do with either of those things?"

Mew disregarded this, too. "Well? I'm waiting."

"Fine." Darkrai's mirror image dropped his mock surprise. "The moon blew up. You're not telling me you missed it? Huge explosion, lots of—"

"Let's start with waking the humans of that city up," interrupted Mew. "Maybe that's a little easier for you to understand."

The Darkrai of the Reverse Moon laughed. "You're no fun." Then: "Tell you what... I'm going to attack you, right now. If you can beat me, I'll tell you about the moon, _and_ wake up the humans."

Mew set her stance. "If you insist on the hard way, fine."

The pitch-black copy grinned, his form blurred, and an instant later he was lunging at Mew's head, but she easily avoided his strike and moved swiftly back. Glowing spirals of neon pink dots began to swirl around her hands as she charged energy internally, and then a wall of like-colored energy sprang forth and rushed at the other Darkrai like a tidal wave. With a chuckle, he held out a claw and met the attack straight on, holding back its force.

Only moments later, his smile faded as the pulsating mass of light began to push him back. The copy braced both his hands against the energy, which had swelled in size as it clashed against him, and brought all his strength to bear; finally, with a great effort, he succeeded in redirecting Mew's attack to one side. But before the energy had even reached the side of the basin and erupted, Mew appeared in front of her foe and delivered a lightning-fast sideways kick, sending him sailing into a tree at the clearing's edge. The thick trunks didn't snap, and the other Darkrai crumpled to the rocky earth before it.

Mew floated over. "Release those people from their nightmares and you won't get any more than a warning."

"Like hell," replied Darkrai's copy, and he swung an arm at her from the ground. Mew caught his blow with one hand, halting it with strength it didn't look like her slim frame could have contained. Abruptly she was yanked off balance as the doppelgänger quickly jerked his arm back; his other fist came flying to meet her as she fell toward him, and the forceful blow sent her flying back.

Mew flipped in midair and regained her levitation before she hit the bottom of the basin. The mirrored Darkrai was already coming at her, but she moved to one side and dodged her opponent's swipe, firing a brilliant sphere of energy at his back as he hurtled past. He succeeded in spinning around and knocking the projectile away before it could strike him, but Mew interrupted his attempt to charge energy for a return assault with a flying punch. The other Darkrai again crashed heavily to the ground.

But as Mew approached, he suddenly leapt up and lunged at her with speed leagues beyond what he had been displaying thus far, his hand closing in a vice-like grip around her throat. They flew, the copy propelling Mew as she tried to free herself, until they collided with a tree. The doppelgänger's grip tightened, choking Mew.

Mew's struggles were in vain, and she didn't so much as have the concentration necessary to launch an energy attack; the last assault had caught her completely unaware. She continued trying furiously to seize hold of that elusive focus, but all the while the pitch-black copy was squeezing the breath from her body.

Just as stars were playing across Mew's vision, a bolt of vivid green light lanced out of the sky and struck the other Darkrai; he recoiled and released Mew. Dropping down from the dark, bruised clouds were Celebi and Darkrai himself. They touched down beside Mew, facing her assailant, who chuckled as he surveyed the new arrivals. "Why hello, Celebi...and _me._"

Massaging her throat with one hand, Mew glanced over at them as well. "I'd begun to suspect this wasn't really Darkrai..."

Darkrai silently regarded the Darkrai of the Reverse Moon, who laughed and said "What are you looking at?" He turned to Mew. "And that's an insult to Darkrai, isn't it? Seeing how you only _suspected _that since I'm so strong."

"How strong is he?" murmured Celebi to Mew.

"Strong," Mew replied in a voice equally low. "He just came at me with a lot more power than before, and I think he's still holding back."

The Darkrai in question smiled deviously. "Oh, you have no idea, how much." Again he looked at Darkrai, saying, "Oh, you must be confused—so many questions. First is what you should call me, right? Well, 'Reverse Darkrai' seems appro—"

"Enough already."

Darkrai spoke for the first time since arriving, his voice flat. "You aren't who I thought you were. I'm not chasing you to answer any questions. In fact, you don't interest me at all."

"Why," exclaimed Reverse Darkrai in a mock hurt tone of voice. "That's not very nice." When silence greeted this, he laughed and said, "Well, I got you here, at any rate. Say whatever you like, but this won't be our last meeting."

"I warned you before," broke in Mew. "Wake up the humans in Canalave."

"Make him do it," retorted Reverse Darkrai, gesturing at the other Pitch-black Pokémon. "He's the serious, good one."

Celebi barked a laugh at that. "Only compared to you."

"You can't really expect to win against all three of us." Mew stared hard at Reverse Darkrai. "What are you playing at? What do you expect to gain from all this?"

"Who knows?" replied the copy with a shrug. "Maybe I'm just insane."

"Don't worry about the humans," said Darkrai dismissively. "Like he said, I can wake them up, if they're stuck in nightmares. Why don't we just kill him?"

"I'd rather avoid that," said Celebi, frowning. "But..."

A moment of silence swelled abnormally as the mournful wind set the branches around them to swaying, filling the air with the sound of their creaking. The wind chilled the clearing as it ghosted over the area in waves—not a single ripple disturbed the thin surface of the water—and the island seemed to grow even more unwelcoming, if that were possible.

Finally, Reverse Darkrai ended the lull with another cackle of laughter. "Let the tension build all you want, but you won't fight me here." He sounded supremely confident. "Not seriously, anyway."

Mew crossed her arms. "What makes you so sure?" At this, yet again the doppelgänger laughed.

"You think I'm some crazy clone who sprang out of nowhere and is just doing whatever pops into his head." A smile was clearly tangible in his words, though not visible; either because it was hidden behind his blood-red crest or because he had no mouth. "But you're wrong. I know, for instance, that you two"—he pointed with two hooked fingers at Mew and Celebi—"are limiting your energies because your full powers are dangerous.

"But say you did fight at full strength here. You're so concerned about the state the moon's in; what do you think will happen to it if you damage this island?"

Celebi glanced at Darkrai. "What does he mean?"

"New Moon Island is a point where the moon's energies—" Darkrai cut himself off impatiently. "Forget it. Just take my word for it, destroying it would be a bad idea."

"Hey." Reverse Darkrai addressed his lookalike. "Know why it's inevitable that we're going to meet again?"

"No," said Darkrai in a voice registering off the sarcasm scale, "but please do tell me."

One hair's breadth of a movement by the wind later, Reverse Darkrai stood right beside him. "Because you just won't accept that I'm stronger," he whispered into Darkrai's ear, and then he sank a fist into Darkrai's gut.

Darkrai almost doubled over but caught himself, straightening to retaliate with a swift blow to the copy's head. The strike connected, and Reverse Darkrai was slung into the water, though even the ripples from this impact were unnaturally short-lived. Darkrai was atop him a moment later, seizing the doppelgänger and heaving him with a whirling motion, sending the other Pokémon smashing for the second time into a tree. Before Reverse Darkrai could move away, Darkrai rammed into him and drove him cleanly through the wood, the trunk giving with a tremendous snap and splinters flying in all directions as if propelled by an explosion, and the two tumbled together into the woods. Mew and Celebi saw only flashes of light on all sides that illuminated the branches like lightning as Darkrai and his mirror image battled their way around the perimeter of the clearing until, finally, one Darkrai sent the other hurtling back into the basin and into the two Lieutenants' view. As they looked on, the other Pitch-black Pokémon launched a jet of black light which struck his downed foe and slung him to the steeply sloped side of the basin. Said Darkrai moved back into the basin, as well. He tuned to Celebi and Mew, and each tensed. After a beat more of silence, just as Celebi was about to say something, the Darkrai before them spoke.

"So much for your peaceful solution," he growled. "You—"

"Darkrai, watch out!" shouted Mew. For Reverse Darkrai had risen, a gleaming blade of Dark energy formed over his hand, and he lunged forward and with a short laugh of triumph plunged the scimitar into Darkrai's body. That is, into the air occupied by Darkrai's body a split second earlier.

Reverse Darkrai blinked dumbly at the empty space before him. "What—?"

Darkrai, as nonplussed as anybody else, had somehow moved instantaneously back to where Mew and Celebi hovered—and now another party hovered there as well. Her body was white as snow, and from it trailed luminous streamers; her head, shaped almost like three points of a star, was golden in color and bore three small adornments of uncertain material, pale and equally uncertain in color. These baubles, whatever they were, hung above deep blue eyes not unlike Mew's and Celebi's. On her belly and chest, slight as the rest of her diminutive frame, was an upturned rim or curve like a shut eyelid, and around her whole being was a faint but visible shimmer, which one might have made fun of if unaware of the tremendous power she carried within her—and if that one were Celebi, perhaps even then.

Jirachi had arrived.

-m- -m- -m-

Deoxys found Mewtwo sitting cross-legged in midair, apparently meditating, deep within the same lonely cave where Darkrai had first crossed paths with him (though Deoxys had his energy senses to guide him, and had done much less wandering than Darkrai). He stopped and waited upon entering, but after a minute filled with nothing but the sound of sullen stalactites dripping moisture onto the rock floor, he said, "Hey."

"Leave immediately," said Mewtwo immediately, and without opening his eyes. "I will not ask again."

"Darkrai wasn't kidding," said Deoxys, cocking an imaginary eyebrow. "I'm only here for you to give me your side of the story regarding what happened with him. From what he says, you attacked him without provocation."

"It's true that I fought him," said Mewtwo, opening his eyes. "But the only way that concerns you is that you are trespassing just as he was. Leave."

"I don't appreciate you ordering me around," said Deoxys. "Are you going to defend yourself at all? You really attacked Darkrai for _trespassing?_"

"Leave," repeated Mewtwo, "or I will get rid of you."

"Really."

Both were tensing for a fight when a flash lit up the cave as effectively as any Hidden Machine ever had, and from the light tumbled a familiar-looking orange teardrop.

Rotom eyed the angry Legendaries. "Um...is this a bad time?"

* * *

A/N: Does Rotom have the most perfect timing ever, or what?

Yay for more fight scene-y goodness, and look who's decided to show up and complete a certain trio. A quick note about Jirachi, now that I think of it: I'm not really a fan of how her eyes look in the official art, so for the purposes of this story, they'll be kinda closer to how Mew's eyes look.

Until next time!


	9. Operation Whatever

"Oh, look!" exclaimed Reverse Darkrai. "Another little _Lieutenant._ Looks like I'm done for!"

"Lord Jirachi!" Mew sounded surprised. "Up a few hundred years early, eh?"

"Yep," said Jirachi, "thanks to a little orange Pokémon who was apparently told to wake me up using any means necessary…" She glared at Celebi, who shrugged sort of almost a little apologetically.

Darkrai might have tapped a foot if he had possessed one. "Great. All three of you are here. Can we kill him already?"

"Hello to you, too," said Jirachi, miffed. "Way to make a first impression."

"You can't actually kill me," laughed Reverse Darkrai. "I'm not leaving this island, and good luck to you"—he indicated Jirachi—"trying to teleport me off it."

"Apparently damaging this island would do something to the moon," said Mew in answer to Jirachi's unspoken question.

"Is that it?" Celebi asked Reverse Darkrai. "You're just going to hide here and leave those humans in their nightmares?"

Reverse Darkrai shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Forget about the humans. The humans are not an issue." Darkrai was, unsurprisingly, openly annoyed. "I already said—oh, fine. I'll do it right now. The city south of here, right?" He closed his eyes for a moment, saying upon reopening them, "There, done. Now forget. About. The humans."

"Thank you, Darkrai," said Mew. "We should go to the Hall. Master Arceus can decide what to do about this…clone."

Darkrai muttered something about _vaporize and be done with it_ in the background, to no avail. As Jirachi turned to face them in preparation to use her powers, Reverse Darkrai spoke up again. "I have to warn you… What's happened to the moon is no mere elemental imbalance. It'll only get worse, and the only way you can stop that is to kill me…" He grinned one last time, bloodily, and then Jirachi teleported them all away from New Moon Island.

-m- -m- -m-

The four of them materialized among the decrepit remains of whatever grand work of architecture Spear Pillar had once been, the stars winking benignly at them from heavens that were far clearer than the almost smoky sky above the island. After warning Darkrai she would knock him unconscious if he didn't stop enumerating the ways in which not killing Reverse Darkrai on the spot was the stupidest decision anyone had ever made, Mew conjured her Azure Flute from the ether and began to play. As the eerily beautiful song strangely across the ruins, Darkrai asked Celebi, "What is that?"

"It's an Azure Flute," replied Celebi, surprised. "Playing this song on one—Mew, Jirachi, and I have the only three—summons the staircase to the Hall of Origin. Master Arceus created them as a means for us to get into the Hall without his having to specifically let us in."

"There are a few other special songs," added Jirachi. "But to be honest, we've never even used them."

"How many are there, anyway?" Celebi tried to remember.

"Eleven?"

"Could be…"

Mew called them over, and they were about to begin ascending the glowing steps when a voice rang out in the distance. "Hey!"

Approaching from the sky was Deoxys, a small orange blob vaguely visible wrapped in two of his tentacles. He swiftly arrived at the mountaintop and touched down, releasing Rotom. The little teardrop immediately began bobbing around, examining every last crumbling stone. "Wow, so this is the Hall or Origin? Nobody told me it was a _ruin._ That's so cool! All the stuff is all falling apart and broken, and ruined! But it's still pretty awesome looking, you gotta admit. Whoa, what's this symbol here mean…?"

"I'm Deoxys," said the red Pokémon. "Or Lord Deoxys; either way. I know who you three are, of course."

"A pleasure to meet you," said Celebi, and Jirachi and Mew said likewise. "How many Legendaries did you inform of the situation?"

"All of them," said Deoxys, and the Lieutenants' eyes widened. Deoxys twisted his two right tentacles together and they fused, somehow becoming a hand, and he gestured with a thumb in Rotom's direction. "He had a list which he made sure to repeat several times."

"Oh, yeah," called Rotom from around an especially cool arch. "I got to see all the Legendaries! And Deoxys moves _so_ fast in his Speed form. Like, I'd blink and we'd be somewhere totally different!"

"Well…wow." Celebi had certainly not been expecting Deoxys's answer. "All of them. Thank you, then. Why are you here?"

"There is something _very_ wrong with the moon's energy," said Deoxys, "and I'd been feeling it without knowing what it was for a while. I want to stick around until it's back to normal." Celebi nodded, and Deoxys turned to Darkrai. "I met Mewtwo, by the way."

"Glad to see you've still got your soul," said Darkrai drily.

"Seems like what you said was true. I'll watch him with my senses for a while to make sure he isn't still attacking 'trespassers.'"

Mew motioned up the stairway, and together they ascended the glowing steps. As they moved higher, the Hall of Origin itself began to fade into existence around them, gradually solidifying until at last they reached the highest stair and entered the grand chamber beyond. The three newcomers' gazes might have lingered on the exquisite architecture (perhaps not Darkrai's) had they not been fixed on the far end of the Hall—more precisely, on the one who stood there.

"Hello, Darkrai, Lord Deoxys, and Rotom, and welcome to the Hall of Origin," said Arceus, smiling. "And welcome once again, Lords Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi. I'm glad to see you've all met. Lord Celebi, would you please tell me all that has happened since Lord Mew's last visit?"

As Celebi summarized the events following his meeting Rotom and learning about Reverse Darkrai, Rotom's gape factor far surpassed anything seen previously. Deoxys and Darkrai were doing a far better job of not appearing to stare, but it remained apparent that Darkrai's one visible eye would not leave the Alpha Pokémon's direction. At one point, Arceus nodded almost imperceptibly to them, and from then on they found it easier to relax.

"I do not believe the death of Darkrai's copy would lift the energy affecting the moon," said Arceus once Celebi had finished speaking. "It seems to me this _Reverse Darkrai_ is merely a product of that energy and likely doesn't control it. Lord Mew, what exactly did he say when you first arrived?"

"He'd been expecting me, or at least he'd been expecting someone to come and challenge him about the moon's state." Mew frowned. "He said that if I defeated him, he would tell me about the moon."

"You really think he meant it?" Jirachi spoke up. "He was probably just trying to get you to fight him."

"I'm not sure," replied Mew. "He's extremely confident, and I don't think the possibility of losing ever occurred to him. If he does lose, I think he might actually tell us."

"The problem you face is one of location, then," said Arceus. "You said he threatened damage to New Moon Island and, by extension, the moon itself."

"How hard could it be to force him away, though?" said Deoxys. "If we worked together, we could do it without harm to that island."

"No, you couldn't," said Darkrai, surprising them. "He could hide…" He seemed to think for a moment; then, having decided to demonstrate in lieu of giving further explanation: "Like this." And he began to sink into the luminous stone underfoot, ghostly ripples of nothingness radiating from around him, until he had vanished save for a shadow of himself upon the ground. With another warping of the stone his head and upper torso reappeared. "You'd have to actually destroy the island to force him out."

"He really _has_ planed this," mused Mew as Darkrai rose out the rest of the way, "whatever his goal is."

"I think I have a solution," said Arceus. "If we can't remove Reverse Darkrai from his territory, we will simply change the territory. Lords Dialga and Palkia can freeze the time and space around him and replace it with another location. This location will itself be cut off from our dimension—it will be as if he has been teleported to a private dimension. This has the added benefits of allowing you to battle unrestrainedly without worrying about damaging the surroundings, and precluding any possibility of Reverse Darkrai's escape.

"I suggest for the battlefield the Tree of Beginning and its outlying area," he continued, inclining his head to Mew, "due to its hardy ecosystem and natural resistance to potentially damaging energies. Do any of you have objections?" Following a silence that indicated general assent, he went on. "Lord Deoxys, I must ask you to go to Lord Dialga to request the temporal freeze. Make sure he understands you mean the whole area and not just the tree-shaped rock formation."

"All right," said Deoxys, nodding. "But I doubt he'll be too happy to see me again."

Arceus turned to Darkrai. "That leaves Lord Palkia to you, Darkrai."

Darkrai nodded as well. "Fine. And who gets to go beat the truth out of my evil clone?"

"Any among you," replied Arceus. "Whoever volunteers."

"I'll do it," said Celebi immediately. "After all, it's a forest ecosystem."

"Just try not to destroy too much of it, okay?" groaned Mew.

"I'll be able to open a window into the dimension and send anyone else there who wishes to go." Arceus spoke now with a tone of finality. "It's time to get to work."

Rotom piped up enthusiastically, "Now commences Operation…Whatever!"

-m- -m- -m-

Torrential rains and driving wind constantly lashed without mercy at the spiky crags of the island called Materia. It resembled more a spire hewn from the black rock than any natural formation, jutting from the sea as if dropped there. It wasn't nighttime, but the dense cloud cover cast an unnatural darkness over everything that lay beneath, lifted only when lightning split the sky and lit up the forbidding silhouette of the island.

Darkrai gazed from the stone tower's base to its zenith, craning his neck to see the very top. There, almost indiscernible through the wildly buffeted sheets of rain, was a distortion in the air which blurred and obscured the apex of the tower. This Darkrai had seen once previously, and he knew it was a powerful force field which undoubtedly housed Palkia himself. He was certain he would be repelled if he approached the barrier directly, but looking more carefully at the tower he could see signs of a path that spiraled upwards within the stone structure. _That'll take me through, I bet._ At ground level he found an arched doorway, very large yet deceptively cloaked by the darkness and the rain—and perhaps a touch of spatial trickery—until Darkrai stood immediately before it; inside was a winding rock staircase which, in contrast to the rough outer features of the tower, was smoothly carved and symmetrical.

Ascending those steps, passing on his way windows which not only had he not been able to see from the island proper but which also somehow let in no wind or rain, Darkrai perceived a shift in the atmosphere. As he climbed ever higher, an invisible force in the air grew stronger until it began to weigh on him physically. Simply moving required more effort within this omnipresent pressure, but Darkrai did not slow—the tower was tall enough that the climb had taken a considerable amount of time already. At length, he reached his destination.

The stairs led up through a rectangular gap in what was now the floor and out onto the top of the spire (though several jagged and pointed pillars of rock still dotted the boundaries of the area, rising to varying heights), now within the large, spherical force field, translucent from this side. The field kept the elements at bay, creating an incredible backdrop of lightning and swirling rain, howling around the observer on all sides but not touching. Again the aesthetics of the surroundings were unusual; they did not so much resemble a cliff top as an open-air throne room. And floating above a low platform that might have been the throne was the High Lord Palkia.

He was magnificent to behold, a massive winged Pokémon with a large, lustrous gem inset in each of his powerful arms. He had a stocky frame, with a bulky lower torso and think legs, as well as a tail of medium length which was an endpoint to the purple-line markings that ran over his pale body. His broad chest curved seamlessly up into an elongated head, a truly fantastical appearance, and on his back were two flat glider's wings. As Darkrai approached, the Spatial Pokémon's yellow-and-black eyes snapped open, and Palkia turned his great head to look him over. _You._ His voice was telepathic.

"Me," replied Darkrai calmly.

Palkia ceased his hovering and touched down, a sharp report echoing within the otherwise deathly silent barrier as his clawed feet punched twin craters into the stone beneath him. The rock chips knocked loose by the impact slowed to a stop in midair and then returned to their place underneath Palkia, sealing the holes and leaving the slab looking untouched. _What business could the likes of you have on my island?_

"Well, you know I'm just _dying_ for opportunities to come see you, Palkia," said Darkrai laconically, "but this ti—"

_You would do well,_ interrupted the Spatial Pokémon, _to address me as _Lord_ Palkia!_ A dangerous note had entered Palkia's thought-voice.

Darkrai glared defiantly back. "Oh, yeah?"

_State your business immediately or leave._ Palkia's gleaming gold eyes were fixed rigidly on Darkrai.

"I was in the middle of _stating my business_ when you felt the need to remind me about your stupid title. Maybe if you hadn't interrupted me, we'd already—"

_**Silence!**_

Even as a neural thread, the single word carried force enough to stop even Darkrai midsentence. _Enough of this! It's time you learned to respect those superior to you!_

"Arceus—"

Palkia didn't hear him. He began to roar, a strange sound that was almost a ringing note, as energy began to swirl around him. Ghostly light glowed pallid violet within his right arm as he raised it, accompanied by a sharp, drawn-out shriek of glass. Space began to bend around Palkia's limb, and an electric, pulsing hum filled the air.

"Oh, damn," said Darkrai to nobody in particular.

_Spacial Rend!_

A crescent of supercondensed power was released with a tremendous howl as Palkia swung his arm down, hurtling through the air and unstitching its very fabric as it went and bearing down on Darkrai like a steam train—a dimensionally energized, sickle-shaped, neon purple steam train. Moments before it reached him, Darkrai swung his own arm out to meet Palkia's attack, shouting as he did so, "Spacial Rend!"

An identical blade of energy leapt from Darkrai and collided with the first; with not a moment's delay the two brilliant cores of spatial energy seeming to twist briefly around each other for a heartbeat, and then they met, and space itself was lost in an explosion that ravenously consumed all that it met, and layered over everything was a sound that could only be described as the television screen of reality shattering. Flecks and slivers of rock and even eddies of dust danced in the air as the island's power compelled them to return to the places they had been dislodged from, creating a fantastic ballet of miniature stones, but Darkrai's attention was elsewhere. For a split second, multicolored blocks of nothing flickered wildly like pixels around a rift that had been torn into the air like a gap in cloth ripped apart, and in that instant Darkrai saw through the guts of dimensions and to a realm buried deep within nonexistence, and beheld the form of a strange being there—a Pokémon hued entirely in grayscale with burning, solid red eyes. Its broad, cylindrical trunk was banded with shades of black and gray, and from it two tattered wings spread; this rested atop a low body with six short legs all a thick tree's breadth, and trailing behind this was a tail in fact similar to Palkia's. The creature had a head that appeared to be adorned with armor, or perhaps an array of blades, with spikes jutting to either side and a crescent-shaped plate for a crest, and similar metal-like structures were wrapped around its torso. Darkrai realized he was a looking at a chroma-drained image of the Renegade Pokémon, Giratina, lord of alternate dimensions located on the reverse side of the one Darkrai himself inhabited and compliment to Dialga and Palkia. Yet, those ghastly eyes—

But the hole sealed as the spatial disturbance settled, and the rift-window was no more.

Palkia laughed coldly; it did not appear he had seen what Darkrai had. _I am impressed. It's hard to believe you can use such a powerful attack so easily. But I'm afraid it's not enough. You can't defeat me… It's not a matter of how brave, smart, or even skilled you are. I am simply more powerful. More powerful, I think, than you can even imagine._

Darkrai crossed his arms. "Aren't you modest."

_But in any case, I suppose I owe you a chance to explain what you're doing here._ Palkia took one menacing step forward, the heavy footfall again sending cracks spiderwebbing through the stone; these too were swiftly repaired. _Though if I do not like your explanation, you may still suffer the consequences._

"Yeah, well," said Darkrai, idly examining a claw, "how's this for an explanation: Master Arceus sent me here to ask for your help."

Palkia froze. _Master Arceus sent you…?_

"He did. And I'm thinking he won't be too happy if he finds out you killed me."

_And why did he send you?_ Palkia sounded wary.

Darkrai began. "A while ago, Mew noticed something was wrong with the moon…"

-m- -m- -m-

Darkrai arrived back at the stairs leading from Spear Pillar to the Hall of Origin some time after Deoxys had returned. Deoxys, however, attributed this in the majority to his Speed form, and privately told Darkrai he'd had his own share of trouble getting Dialga to listen to him

"All right," said Arceus once they had assembled again. "Lord Celebi is at New Moon Island now. Lords Palkia and Dialga will coordinate their efforts to seal him and Reverse Darkrai in the Tree of Beginning's dimension. The battle is about to begin…"

* * *

A/N: Look, over there! Another update! *runs away*

...Not much to say. Anyone's curiosity piqued by the rift scene? ;)


	10. White Darkrai

It had been a normal day for Ditto in the forest atop the enormous natural stone formation called the Tree of Beginning. She'd started the morning off by imitating Regigigas and ordering the Regi trio around, and the three golems had thrown her off a cliff once they learned they'd been deceived. Escaping with no damage thanks to her gooey, elastic purpley-pink body (the only features of which were two black-dot eyes and a squiggly-line mouth), she had checked once again to see if Mew had returned yet and, being disappointed not to find her friend back yet, she had begun looking for lunch.

She had just found a bush with delicious-looking crimson berries of unknown poison content on it. She Transformed into a Gulpin and ate the entire plant, roots included, and then moved on to a nearby fruit-bearing tree. Moments later, the ground shook as, Transformed into Onix, Ditto munched large chunks out of the tree; indiscriminately from the trunk, branches, and foliage. She was preparing to snack on the roots of this meal, too, when she spied a wild tomato plant with a single ripe, red, _juicy_ tomato hanging from it. Ditto Transformed into an Ekans and prepared to swallow it whole, but in a lightning-fast brownish blur, a Pidgeot swooped down and plucked the tomato a split second before Ditto could chow down. Grumbling and changing back to her own form, Ditto turned to investigate a faint rushing noise which she had been hearing for the past minute or so.

She yelped as an energy blast impacted the ground a meter away, detonating and sending clumps of dirt flying in all directions. Ditto morphed into a Rapidash and hightailed it away as more projectiles hurtled from the sky, deciding lunch was in fact a secondary concern to self-preservation (well, really, it depended on the lunch).

Celebi sped down from the peaceful cloud cover, flying backwards to face his pursuer—of course Reverse Darkrai—who was firing a hail of attacks which Celebi parried or dodged with little difficulty as they flew. Finally, as if by some unspoken consent, they floated to a halt in midair, hovering over the vast expanse of lush, boreal forest, and Reverse Darkrai ceased his assault, replacing the bolts of energy with a smile that was nonetheless aimed dangerously at Celebi.

"So," he said. "This is where you chose for the time/space freeze."

Celebi blinked. "Yes, it is. How do you know about it?"

"Don't worry about that." The malevolent doppelgänger didn't sound as smug as it seemed he could have. "Finally! I've been waiting too long for this."

"Been planning for a while?"

Reverse Darkrai laughed. "_I_ haven't been planning anything. You can release your limits now, right?"

"Once the freeze is complete, that's right." Celebi glanced around; it was clear they were still in their own dimension. "You won't present much difficulty then."

"Really…"

"Tell me, why aren't you attacking now? Why wait around chatting?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I find talking to you Legendaries so positively _fascinating,_ I'm just not that worried about you. You're many times stronger with no limits on your energy, I'm sure…" Reverse Darkrai treated Celebi to his wickedest grin yet. "Still no threat to me."

"And here we were thinking you were smarter than you seemed," retorted Celebi, looking critically at the doppelgänger. "If you knew how much more powerful I am without limits, you'd know my strength far surpasses your own."

"I'll let you in on a little secret…" Reverse Darkrai briefly looked to one side; he, too, appeared to be checking whether the time/space freeze was coming, but it seemed almost as if his glance had actually informed of him of how close it was. "I also have restrained energies right now. But, unlike you, when I free my full power, I don't just get stronger. There's a whole other being inside of me, or another side of me anyway…and he's _way_ stronger than me."

Celebi was taken momentarily aback. "And I meet this other side when you release your energies?"

"That's right."

"You're still being overconfident." Celebi readied himself. "My abilities are not to be taken lightly… I won't lose to you."

They were distracted as in the distance a wall of indistinct black dots rose up on all sides. Slowly the rounded walls formed by the specks curved in and closed the gap between them, forming a gigantic dome over the entire Tree of Beginning and the surrounding area.

"Hello, Unown," muttered Reverse Darkrai.

Brilliant blue lines of light began to draw themselves in the sky, interconnecting each of the Symbol Pokémon and forming an enormous web of energy, and the empty space between the lines was filled in by a translucent, illuminated film of uncertain composition. The ghosts of two twin roars echoed across the dome, rippling the very fabric of reality. At first one by one and then in greater numbers, the Unown flashed and disappeared, leaving behind what was revealed to be a massive sphere that, in an instant or in an eternity, chopped the Tree of Beginning out of the earth, pulled it out of the time continuum, and sent it to another dimension. On the sphere's inside, the only indication Celebi and Reverse Darkrai had of this was that in the distance the surroundings could be seen to grow insubstantial and then fade away.

"Now that we've got our own private dimension…" said Celebi. "Let's see this other side of yours."

"With pleasure." At this, a twister of power formed around Reverse Darkrai, and powerful winds began to radiate from him so that Celebi had to brace himself forward to keep from being buffeted back. The vortex thickened, obscuring Reverse Darkrai completely from view, until suddenly a stream of what looked like white, liquid fire spiraled into existence around him and cast his silhouette into relief; then fire plunged inward and everything was whited out in a flash.

When the blinding light faded, Celebi beheld a Pokémon who resembled Reverse Darkrai in every regard save one: he was pure white. The figure was wrapped in a colorless aura that danced like a flame, and his gray eyes burned, too, with matching intensity. "I am White Darkrai." The spectre spoke in a voice utterly unlike Reverse Darkrai's, with no sarcasm or mocking tone in it. "I am an entity wholly separate from the one with whom you were just speaking. I am all his powers and more. I am—"

"About to die," completed Celebi. "It's time you saw just how wrong you'll be proven when you think you're invincible." With that, Celebi closed his eyes and spread his arms wide. His body began to glow with intense green light, then a strong wave of force burst from him, flattening the trees far below, matching White Darkrai's own showing of power. Celebi's eyes glowed emerald as his full strength surged forth, a truly fearsome energy. "Let's get started," he said. "Take this!"

The jet of energy he loosed hit White Darkrai in the jaw before he could even move, snapping his head back. Celebi closed in and swung blindingly fast at his opponent, but White Darkrai recovered quickly and blocked the strike. Celebi nimbly dodged his return swing, but he was jarred back as the colorless doppelgänger released an invisible pulse of driving power; White Darkrai seized the chance to hammer down at him with a fist, but Celebi didn't give ground when the blow struck him, instead repelling White Darkrai with a sweep of his arm. White Darkrai volleyed crackling spheres of white light at him even as he sailed backward himself; Celebi dove through the projectiles only to be met with a fast jab of a claw which he redirected, and then he hit White Darkrai with an open palm and sent him tumbling earthward.

White Darkrai regained his levitation just as he skimmed the tree tops, but as he looked up to face Celebi, the branches beneath him began to grow and twist, reaching up to ensnare him. More and more snaked up and covered him as Celebi descended, charging energy for a powerful strike. Just as he released the devastating pulse of force, White Darkrai smashed one arm free of the wooden prison and deflected the projectile. Celebi flew at him, but he broke the remainder of the branches with a roar and dodged the incoming blow. They soared along the forest's top boundary together, each trying to land as many strikes as he could, until finally White Darkrai succeeded in grabbing hold of Celebi and threw him bodily down, then dove after him with a lunge.

The combatants were momentarily lost in an explosion of dirt from the impact of their bodies striking the forest floor, but a moment later they were flitting through the woods, firing jets of light at each other in the momentary gaps between trees. Eventually a green jet hit its white counterpart, and an eruption of energy burst outward, leveling the forest for a hundred meters in all directions and scarring a deep crater into the soft earth. Before the last flare had subsided, Celebi abruptly changed course and flew like a bullet at White Darkrai; the white Pokémon lashed out to counter his rush but was caught off guard as, his form blurring with incredible speed, Celebi swerved and flew in an instant to his opposite side, shouting even as he moved, "Foreststrike!" A vivid, semitranslucent green glow outlined his fist as he drew it in and, all in that moment, thrust it forward. In the fractional second before Celebi's blow reached him, White Darkrai spun to face his attacker and brought his palm up.

What sprang to life as White Darkrai met Celebi's attack was not a formless release of energy but a volatile, concentrated core of it. Pulsing green rings of the almost fluid mass of pure force danced around the point where Celebi's hand met his opponent's, a deadly power which White Darkrai struggled to keep at bay. The pulses were short lived and quickly faded, but a strong illumination still surrounded Celebi's fist; White Darkrai was still holding back the full force of the strike.

Celebi multiplied his efforts and the colorless Pokémon faltered, unprepared for the monstrous surge in strength; Celebi pressed his advantage and succeeded in forcing his arm through White Darkrai's defenses. The energy rushed forward, clipping White Darkrai as he threw himself to one side in an attempt to avoid it, knocking him down the significant distance they had risen since reaching the ground and sending him crashing hard into the dirt. He sprang up quickly as Celebi drew near, fist still pulsating with energy, and for a second time he caught Celebi's hand in his own.

Celebi pushed harder, intending to finish things with that one assault, but this time with a swoop of his gut he was shocked to find White Darkrai's resistance overwhelming his own strength. Slowly, inexorably, White Darkrai subdued the terrible energy, the light surrounding Celebi disappeared, and he was left with his fist locked in White Darkrai's grip. Acting before his adversary could seize the opportunity to attack, Celebi wrenched his limb free and lunged again, but White Darkrai had him beaten. Effortlessly, he knocked Celebi's legs out from under him with a sweep of one arm, and the Lieutenant was left effectively tripping. The next instant White Darkrai's other arm was a blur, and he punched Celebi squarely in the head and sent the smaller Pokémon tumbling head over heels and into a tree trunk. Celebi recovered his aerial balance before he fell to the forest floor, and he faced White Darkrai just in time to behold several shafts of vaguely unfocused white light lancing at him.

Celebi took the equivalent of a midair stride and dodged the illuminated lines, but even as he did the light streams bent as if they had hit a mirror and came at him again. He flew from them, the beams following him still, but found his path blocked by White Darkrai, who struck at him and forced him to evade; now the shafts were closing in, and no matter where he flew they or White Darkrai were there to intercept him, until at last the lingering, still-energized trails of light the lines left behind them encircled him like a cage, and the doppelgänger and his ephemeral spears moved in together. Just before they reached him Celebi closed his eyes, as if in repose, and when they snapped open they blazed with a lucid turquoise glow. With a shout, he summoned a bubble-rimmed wave that radiated spherically from him and with a shattering sound destroyed the shafts of light, buffeting White Darkrai like a cyclone wind.

"Enough of this." Celebi stood with loose posture, as if opening himself to the atmosphere, and the glow in his irises intensified and the colors in it bled and separated and swirled; green, blue, purple, white. A shimmering sphere formed around him, not unlike the one that had dispelled White Darkrai's attack, though this one was static and a ghostly, cloudy film played across it in places while the rest was transparent. Celebi rose with the force field, the trees shuddering around him as he moved. White Darkrai followed and, when they reached their point of highest ascension, he shot an energy pulse almost offhandedly at Celebi; the energy reached the field and was instantly dispelled.

The forest began to break apart as an unnatural gale tore through it; the winds caught hold of a mass of vines, branches, and vegetation that spiraled upward and formed a whirlwind of wood and grass around the sphere. Slowly the materials began weaving themselves together, forming first a ball that obscured Celebi from view within, and then they spread outward, the enormous volume of dismembered trees and foliage forming a titanic, humanoid shape with two thin wings adorning its back. The head of the great creature was open as if it bore a gaping mouth, and behind that opening, centered among a web of branches resembling a nerve cluster, was Celebi, his very thoughts manipulating the behemoth. The towering figure looked down, facing White Darkrai, who despite his altitude was far lower than the beast's head, but he made no move to flee.

Focusing hard on the thrumming network of nature energy that animated the wooden construct like lifeblood, Celebi brought all his strength to a single point. _I only have the energy for one attack, so this has to count..._ The tightly packed node of branches began to shine powerfully as a charge built within it, the light spilling phantom green from the creature's mouth like shuttered starlight.

Celebi bore down internally, and the energy was released in a supercondensed laser of iridescent emerald, leapt from the juggernaut's mouth down onto White Darkrai in a millisecond, and exploded into a supernova of undiluted natural force a hundred thousand times as intense as Celebi's energized punch had been.

Celebi collapsed with a gasp against the tangle of vines and branches as the strength left his body; that one devastating strike has consumed his energy entirely. It took an effort to keep his eyes open, but he would not allow them to close as he gazed down on the place where the beam had met his foe. There was only a billowing cloud of dust from both the impact and vacuum-esque absence of the energy stream, and within it nothing was discernible.

Then, as with a gentle hand the wind compelled the dust to spread, the bleached form of White Darkrai came into view. He did not look unhurt, perhaps, but he was very much alive. Even at the great distance, Celebi's keen gaze could pick out the slow movement as the clone tilted his head until his one visible gray eye locked onto the mouth of the wooden titan. "Not good," whispered Celebi, his breaths difficult.

In a flash, White Darkrai appeared at his level and dove forward, smashing easily through the armor of Celebi's creation (which had withstood he celestial heat of the laser) and dragged Celebi out. The wood and foliage collapsed on itself and toppled to the ground like a crumbling mountain, the sound an almighty crash. Celebi closed his eyes, preparing for the end, but White Darkrai smiled thinly and said in his ever-calm voice, "For all you said, still you weren't able to kill me—no, you were not even a threat to me, but I will not kill you. However, since I cannot allow you to rejoin the fight, either..."

He pulled one hand out from under Celebi, the other already flying downward like a hammer.

-m- -m- -m-

"No!" shouted Mew as Celebi plummeted to the forest floor, visible to her and the other in a window-like portal Arceus had conjured. "Master Arceus, I have to go there _now._"

"I'll go, too," said Darkrai without prompting.

"All right," said Arceus. "But please, be _careful._" And at a flicker of his thoughts, they were gone.

* * *

A/N: I totally think Celebi should have won. If I was writing this story, he definitely would have... Wait. I _am_ writing this story, aren't I?

One chapter to go! Of course, there are two sequels, and this is only the beginning...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Concrit more than welcome as always.


	11. Echoes To Come

The moment they entered the sealed dimension, two spherical barriers of translucent white light flickered into existence around them. Immediately Darkrai struck at the force field, but he could not break through, and upon attempting to summon energy for an attack he found he could not.

"Don't bother." White Darkrai floated calmly before them, at this range looking somewhat worn out but still with a steady bearing. "I've been waiting for you."

"If your plan is just to trap us, it won't work." Mew glared at the white Pokémon, who stared back as emotionlessly as he was colorless. "The others will come and finish you."

"I will not allow them to enter this dimension."

"You don't have control of—"

White Darkrai's flat voice cut through Mew's own. "I do. And should Arceus try to force his way in, his power will destroy the dimension and kill us all."

"So what, then?" taunted Darkrai. "You're too scared to fight us, so we're just going to sit here?"

"I am not afraid to fight you. I plan to wait until Jirachi en—"

White Darkrai's words were lost in a great rush of sound as Mew released a monstrous flood of concentrated energy, a tremendous burst that decimated her cage of light and swelled outward, spitting pink flares in every direction. Mew herself was wrapped in a vibrant, flame-like aura of the same hue that hummed with power and increased the very pressure of the air tenfold.

In a fraction of an instant, before White Darkrai could even assume a fighting stance, Mew crossed the distance between them and struck him down. The spectre crashed into the dirt of the crater he and Celebi had created, rising swiftly and unleashing a fast pulse of energy from his palm. But Mew either avoided it or had already followed him down, because the next second she smashed her arm into his face and sent him skidding along the earth. He hovered up out of his tumble, and Mew shot after him; the two traded volleys of energized projectiles until abruptly White Darkrai looped back and dove at Mew with claws outstretched. She spun sideways to evade him and aimed a kick at his head as he sailed by, but he ducked and turned to grab her in one hand.

Before White Darkrai could take any action, ghostly blue fire seemed to alight on Mew's own body, and her foe released her, wounded as though the flames had been real. Then Mew's psychic power seized control of the doppelgänger himself, and she sent him flying back earthward. It looked as though Mew was going to force him to slam into the ground once more, but an instant before he did, White Darkrai broke free of the telekinesis and sent a sharp mental recoil coursing through Mew's mind. Before she could recover, White Darkrai snapped from the forest floor to directly in front of her at a speed too great to register and sunk a fist into her gut.

Mew doubled over, and White Darkrai delivered a powerful blow to her back with his hands laced together, but she did not allow herself to be knocked down. Halting her descent with a great surge of will, she whirled and struck White Darkrai's broad chest, pushing him back with disproportionate strength, and then pursued her reeling opponent and began to rain open-palmed strikes upon his head and upper body.

Eventually White Darkrai steadied himself, batting Mew away with a swing of his arm. He drew back and fired several jets of light at her, but the strength of his attacks was diminishing—his battles with the two powerful Legendaries had taken their toll. Mew deflected the lasers with her bare hands and closed in; White Darkrai feinted then intercepted Mew as she made to dodge and grabbed her by the head, heaving mightily and slinging her downward. Mew mentally summoned a shockwave in the air even as she fell, buffeting her opponent back so he was unable to press his advantage, and then followed up with a lightning-fast flying ram against which White Darkrai managed to cross his arms in an _X_ shape to defend himself. He retaliated with an uppercut that forced Mew back, and then he began to charge energy, shouting a moment later, "Dark Override!"

But Mew hit him before his attack could even materialize. She accelerated rapidly and caught up as he attempted to dash away, driving at him again and again and leaving him not one opportunity to attack back; her speed was so great it was past perceptible at times, and she seemed to disappear and reappear as she changed the angle of her assault over and over. White Darkrai parried her blows at first, but soon he began to slow, and Mew scored increasingly more hits.

The bleached clone finally succeeded in disengaging, staggering backward in midair after finally repulsing Mew with an indiscriminate wave of energy. "That's enough," he growled, and he held his arms out before him. "Midnight Black." A swirl of shadowy energy formed around him and began to thicken, its smoky composition undulating, twisting, and spiraling; trails of the condensed darkness wisped off in every direction, and with White Darkrai at its center, it had the appearance of a negatized corona.

"Fire something powerful!" shouted Darkrai across the distance they had separated. "_Now!_ Finish him before he attacks!"

Mew didn't hesitate. She yelled, "_Millenaria!_" and a torrent of what looked like shining, molten gold rushed from her arms and slammed into White Darkrai. Mew sustained the barrage, but just when it looked as though White Darkrai's efforts would be defeated, a gaping hole of black nothingness opened between him and Mew and swallowed the golden energy whole.

"Dawn White!"

Mew and everything surrounding her was lost as from behind the Dark Void a gigantic swath of pure white light was spat as if from some great dragon's mouth, obliterating everything in its path and blanking out space and sight will all the brilliance of a sun.

Eventually the light dimmed and started to dissipate. When it had faded entirely, Darkrai could see Mew lying still on the earth, her eyes shut as though she were just resting in her forest home. For an instant Darkrai thought—but no, her body still moved subtly with signs of breath. As for White Darkrai, he now appeared beyond exhaustion. He didn't move or speak, and his breaths were ragged; Darkrai was close enough to see his chest heave in contrast to the steady rise and fall of Mew's. At length, the foe turned to face his mirror image.

Instantly, Darkrai smashed through the barrier surrounding him, and it only took him a millisecond to reach White Darkrai and slug him across the face. As he recoiled, the Pokémon's white coloration vanished as if painted over by an unseen hand until at last none remained—White Darkrai was gone, and in his place stood Reverse Darkrai once more. Darkrai couldn't help but bark a laugh before flying at Reverse Darkrai and knocking him sideways. The doppelgänger was quick to recover, and lunged at Darkrai as he approached again, trying to impale him with a spike of Dark energy formed over hand, but Darkrai caught his arm and stopped the jab. He proceeded to strike back with a similar energy construct, a flexible blade of light that extended from his forearm as if an elongation of the ridges there; Reverse Darkrai caught it on his claws, but before he could counter Darkrai punched him again in the face with his free hand.

Moving back, Reverse Darkrai swiped his arms through the air in a cross shape, and an invisible force slashed at Darkrai with the same pattern. His adversary advanced swiftly, but Darkrai surprised him by seizing him out of his rush and whirling into a throw toward the forest below. One of Reverse Darkrai's arms snapped out and caught hold of Darkrai an instant before he fell past reaching distance, and together they tumbled down, each aiming a flurry of blows at the other.

They reached ground level and separated, flying in opposite directions. Knowing his enemy was doing the same, Darkrai charged energy even as he turned, shouting "Dark Pulse!" and releasing a torrent of shadow-force into which he poured all his strength, one final effort intended to end the battle and destroy the Darkrai of the Reverse Moon once and for all.

He did not so much as see if it met its target. The instant he completed his pivot and faced Reverse Darkrai he was met with a pulse of energy similar to his own, but blindingly white and so condensed it looked solid, which hit him with force hundreds of times greater than anything he could have produced himself and exploded, striking him finally to the earth.

His ears ringing from the blast, his head spinning from the fall, Darkrai found he could barely move, so much strength had the energy sapped from him. His mind was frozen; how could Reverse Darkrai have summoned energy so powerful? Then he saw the shadowy clone out of the corner of his eye—but now he wasn't entirely so shadowy. His right arm from fingertips to just above the forearm was hued white, with the coloration fragmenting further up and gradually breaking apart as if to reveal the black beneath it. As Darkrai watched, the white faded; slowly this time, as if being siphoned off into the air. When it disappeared completely, a flash like lighting accompanied it and made it clear that all traces of White Darkrai's power were gone.

Darkrai's attack _had_ hit Reverse Darkrai, and he looked utterly drained—yet he was still standing. "Damn you!" spat Darkrai, struggling to rise. Then he stopped and laughed darkly. "You think this is over? Somehow I doubt _you_ can control who gets in to this dimension. What's your plan for fighting Arceus?" Reverse Darkrai didn't respond, instead advancing, in his eyes an expression of obvious distaste at what he was about to do, and held his hand over Darkrai. He paused just one moment more, then drew on his last remnants of energy and prepared one last pulse of Dark-type power.

Suddenly, he was illuminated from behind by a flash of white light as a surge of electricity coursed through his body. With a look of complete disbelief on his face, Reverse Darkrai pitched forward and collapsed face-first to the earth beside Darkrai, who could only stare with an expression akin to his doppelgänger's at the Pokémon who floated there, grinning widely.

"Hi!" said Rotom. "That was pretty awesome, huh?

-m- -m- -m-

_A slender figure stood silhouetted against the night sky, gazing silently up at the hole in the stars that was the Reverse Moon. A second indistinct form leapt easily up to stand beside him on the ruined stone structure. "Looks like they got him." His tone was nonchalant._

_The first being gave no response. The second's teeth glinted in the starlight. "Guess it's our turn."_

_A third figure joined them. "Finally!"_

-m- -m- -m-

Darkrai was in utter shock; forming an actual thought any time soon was only a remote possibility. He was, for once in his life, absolutely speechless.

Rotom was much less so. "Master Arceus said I should come here with you guys! He just sent me along right after you! He said to stay out of the fight, but it kinda looked like the bad you was gonna kill you, so I came over to help, and look! I beat him! This is so awesome. I'm really, really excited and—" Rotom mercifully stopped talking as a swirl of colorless light illuminated the space beside them. From the insubstantial portal stepped Arceus, his expression grim.

"Master Arceus!" exclaimed Rotom happily. "Yeah, now we can leave!"

"We are leaving…" said Arceus. "Immediately."

Darkrai found his voice at last. "What? Why _immediately?_"

Arceus walked over to him, the golden ring around his midsection beginning to glow. "So as to not be caught in a dimensional collapse, explosion, or inversion."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" yelped Rotom. "What?"

"The Reverse Moon phenomenon hasn't disappeared," said Arceus. "If that means Reverse Darkrai was not the cause of its altered state, then given his prior knowledge of the space/time freeze it's likely this is a trap. I want you out of here." The intricate band's illumination dimmed, but from it came a cluster of shimmering, hovering lights which floated towards Darkrai of their own accord. A portion of the sprites dove into his body and immediately he felt his strength return; he stood as the remaining lights went to Mew and Celebi, who in seconds were revived.

"Master Arceus…" said Mew as she approached them. "I'm sorry I couldn't defeat him."

"The fault is mine," said Arceus. "If I had been able to detect the presence of 'White Darkrai,' I would have had both of you and Jirachi fight from the start, and no lives would have been risked." He bowed his head. "Please, forgive me."

Mew put a hand to his head. "Come on, Master Arceus. No one's blaming you." She smiled. "The only thing I'm mad at you about is you not sleeping enough."

"Did Darkrai beat him?" asked Celebi, looking down at the unconscious Reverse Darkrai.

"Actually, I did!" chirped Rotom. Then his face fell. "But we've got to get out of here, 'cause the dimension is gonna BLOW UP!"

They were distracted from Rotom's theatrical impressions of an explosion by a groan from Reverse Darkrai, who got slowly to his feet. In the blink of an eye, bands of light had spun outward from Arceus, encircled the clone, and cinched themselves around him. He only laughed. "You guys should really get going; this place is about to be pulverized. Of course, the idea was for you to be here when that happens, but I don't really care."

"Thanks for the advice," said Mew with a touch of sarcasm. "Feel like filling us in on the rest of your plan?"

"I don't have a plan. I already told you that." He smiled knowingly. "Good luck with whatever comes next, though… you'll need it."

"I didn't take any luck to beat _you_," said Darkrai. "You were lucky you had someone stronger to fight for you."

"I hate to say it, but that really was me. Not anymore, though—he's gone." Reverse Darkrai looked at Darkrai almost thoughtfully. "You know, I'm going to miss having you to mess with."

"What are we going to do with him?" queried Celebi.

"Leave him here," replied Arceus. "I'll make sure he doesn't escape. Now—"

Before Arceus could utter the words _let's go_, a noise like a scream rippled through the dimension's sphere; there appeared a thin crack in the air itself, little more than a barely perceptible line, which split and spread into rows of what looked like squares of sky. Then, starting at the top and moving quickly downward, orderly at first then accelerating into complete chaos, the squares folded in on themselves and shattered with great crashes—the dimension was falling apart. Arceus shouted something inaudible over the sound of time and space breaking apart, and just as the earth began to shake, they started to teleport away. Looking up at the widening hole in the sky-dome in the instant before the five of them vanished, Darkrai could have sworn he saw a pair of solid red eyes fading away as the scream consumed everything…

Reverse Darkrai looked on as the dimension crumbled around him, a million shattered fragments of sky rushing down amid a cacophony of unearthly noises. He smiled briefly as the ground at his feet began to collapse. Then, he was gone.

-m- -m- -m-

The group reappeared at a starlit Spear Pillar, where Jirachi and Deoxys awaited them. Rotom immediately began zipping around in something of a victory dance.

"Some force disrupted Lords Dialga and Palkia's control and destroyed the dimension," said Arceus. "And that force was something far more direct than the Reverse Moon itself… The Tree of Beginning is back where it belongs, by the way," he added. "And, to you who fought—Darkrai, Rotom, Lord Celebi, and Lord Mew—thank you."

"So we still have battles ahead…" mused Mew.

"We'll handle them," said Jirachi. "And next time _I'll_ be there." She was pouting slightly.

"Yeah!" piped up Rotom mid-loop-the-loop. "We'll take 'em on!"

Arceus glanced at Darkrai, who was looking up into the night sky, where the Reverse Moon still hung beyond sight. "Something on your mind, Darkrai?"

_I will find you._ "Nope," he said aloud, adding, "Hey…call me _Lord_ Darkrai."

* * *

A/N: _Et fin._ Well, one-third of the way there, anyway! Thanks to Kyuu for making this quick update possible with a lightning-fast beta. :)

I hope you enjoyed it! I have to say, I'm disappointed with the lack of reviews this has received (how exactly do I make this more known?), but I greatly appreciate those of you who've stuck with me—yes, Child of the Moon's Shadow, that means you.

There do exist of course two more parts to this story of mine! If you liked this one, it's my sincere wish that you forge ahead and read those, as well. Chapters of the second part will be up shortly, thanks as always to my super awesome beta.

So...like...**review. **And get everyone you know to read it and review, too.


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